Torn
by atoxiclullaby1
Summary: The 105th trainees' squad is nearing graduation but is surprised when they find Survey corps members staying with them in hiding. Jean decides to get over Mikasa and finds it easier than expected when he meets a new girl in the 105th, but will her love be stolen from him just like Mikasa's? And by certain traitors no less? Ok, my summaries suck I promise the story is better :)
1. Introductions

Year 851  
It's been about half a year since Annie was captured and Reiner, Bertolt and Ymir supposedly returned to the latter's homeland. The Survey Corps retained custody of Eren Yeager and is currently preparing a new path to the breach in wall Maria from Karanese District with plans to seal the hole and retake wall Maria. Human kind has been unthreatened the last half year, with the colossal and armored titans having supposedly headed home and the beast titan having not appeared again. Even so, humankind has not yet recovered from previous disasters and believes the peace is short lived.

"Woohoo!"  
"Gaaah! Look out!"  
"Aaah!" A series of screams and loud thuds and crashes could be heard from the 105th trainee's mess hall.  
"Tsuna, you dumbass! That could have hit someone!"  
"Oi, Oi. It was Daniel's fault that it got like that. Besides, you're just jealous you didn't come up with the idea in the first place."  
"Making a table surfboard outa some logs an' a wood panel isn't exactly something to be jealous of! You coulda hit someone!"  
"Well if you guys can't dodge a surfboard then how do ya expect to defeat titans?" The 105th trainees' squad was currently unsupervised as Keith Shadis was called to a meeting. Some trainees were taking the opportunity to goof off and enjoy the break from the overly harsh drill sergeant by making table surfboards and pushing each other across the mess hall on them.  
"Hey, Daniel, you owe me another go! This time don't mess it up, you're getting me yelled at." There are four trainees involved with the table surfboards, Tsuna, Daniel, Hiro and Allen. Tsuna is a short girl with a light complexion, light blue eyes and abnormal white hair. Daniel is a slightly tall guy with a more muscular build, brown eyes and light brown hair. Hiro is a tall more gangly young man with blue eyes and light blond hair. Allen is on the shorter side and has an average build with dark brown hair and green eyes. They're some of the best to be found in the 105th trainees' squad.  
"Alright, get on. Ready? 1, 2, 3, GO!" Daniel pushed the table surfboard with Tsuna on it and sent it flying down the middle of the mess hall.  
"Haha. Yea!" Tsuna yelled, headed straight for the closed door at the front of the mess hall. Prepared to crash into the doors Tsuna finds herself surprised when they open and standing in front of her is none other than Keith Shadis himself, and some other, unfamiliar, people. You could see the instant regret on Tsuna's face as she was headed straight for said people. Behind her, her friends shared similar looks of dread and horror at the surprise appearance of the demon Shadis.  
"Waaah!" Tsuna yelled as she neared the people in front of her. Said people were able to dodge Tsuna and the surfboard table and as such Tsuna went flying through the now open mess hall doors, down the stairs and crash landing on the ground.  
"Itai…" Tsuna lays sprawled out in between logs and wood while she receives gawks from everyone but the demon whose giving her a death stare promising many head butts and lots of extra running.  
"TSUNA! What the hell is the meaning of this?!" Shadis yells at her while the other onlookers stare with mixed expressions of surprise and disbelief. The others who were involved with the table surfboard immediately stand at attention.  
"Didn't I tell you before that this is unacceptable?! Who else was involved?" Shadis turned towards the trainees still inside the hall and directs his glare towards Daniel, Hiro and Allen with a knowing look.  
"She did it on her own, Sir" Hiro quickly tries to evade the blame.  
"Y-yea, all by herself." Allen also tried to escape whatever cruel fate will accompany whoever is involved.  
"Oh really?" Shadis asked with and all to knowing deathly look. Meanwhile Tsuna recovers from her crash landing and takes note of the people accompanying their drill sergeant. Judging by their uniform, they must be with the Survey Corps.  
"Y-yes sir" they both replied.  
"What about you Daniel?"  
"I, uh, I was involved too sir" While reluctant, Daniel knows that there's no escaping being figured out if he were to lie so he opts to tell the truth in hopes of not incurring the demons wrath.  
"Oh? At least one of you isn't as useless as the rest" Shadis states and then turns towards Tsuna who was spacing off watching a moth fly around.  
"TSUNA!" Shadis startles Tsuna out of her day dreaming.  
"Yes sir?" Tsuna now stands at attention too.  
"Pay attention dammit! Do you want to piss me off?" Tsuna blinked in surprise.  
"Uh, I was pretty sure you were already pretty pissed sir…" Tsuna answers with uncertainty.  
"So you do want me to be pissed?!" He intensifies his death glare and Tsuna flinches back.  
"N-no sir! It's just how things usually go when you catch us doing something like this. Th-though I'm not complaining, sir!" Tsuna stayed at attention but looked at the Survey Corps members out of the corner of her eye. I wonder what Sergeant is doing with members of the Survey Corps.  
"It's your maggot's lucky day, I'm feeling rather generous. Daniel, Tsuna! Clean up this mess!" Shadis turned to look back at Hiro and Allen.  
"You two, for blatantly lying to your commanding officer and abandoning your comrades you will have clean up duty for the next two weeks!" Hiro and Allen inwardly cursed themselves for being stupid enough to think they would actually get away with lying and without getting in trouble.  
"Listen up everyone! I have an important announcement to make. A few members of the Survey Corps will be staying here undercover for a while. They will stay at the barracks with you and live amongst you. I expect things to go smoothly, and for no trouble to be started." He directs his gaze towards Tsuna and Daniel. Tsuna smiled and waved while Daniel gave a sheepish look.  
"Of course sir, no trouble. Got it. I'll be on my best behavior sir" Tsuna continued to smile with closed eyes trying to hide the fact that she knew she wouldn't stay out of trouble for long considering the group of people she befriended. She could hear Hiro and Allen trying to suppress laughter and she heard Daniel scoff from slightly behind her. She promptly delivered and elbow to his stomach when Shadis wasn't looking.  
"Oof" Daniel sputtered while doubling over to hold his stomach. Tsuna turned and gave him an Unohana₁ smile. He looked back at her with a glare promising revenge.  
"Hmm, I find that hard to believe coming from the likes of you." Shadis grumbled. Tsuna and her friends managed to be the only people capable of giving him a headache.  
"No sir, I mean it, no trouble. Best behavior. I got it." Tsuna felt stricken that nobody believed she could behave but internally agreed with them.  
"Alright, I have other business to attend to, I'll leave things here to you, Captain Levi." Shadis looked at a short man with black hair and a cold expression. They nodded at each other in affirmation then Sergeant Shadis took his leave. Tsuna noted the other Survey corps members around this Captain Levi guy. There were nine others, three girls and six boys, plus the captain. The captain started talking to the other Survey corps members. Tsuna stared at them for a few more seconds looking over all the people and trying to read each of them. Tsuna was knocked out of her daze at the feeling of her legs being kicked out from under her.  
"Gah" she squeaked as she felt her ass hit the ground. She turned and glared at Daniel who was sniggering. She retaliated by a quick fist to his nose. Daniel made a noise of pain then glared back at Tsuna with a now bleeding nose. The two's attack on each other was halted when they were called upon by the short captain.  
"Oi, you two." Tsuna directed her glare towards the captain.  
"Hurry up and finish that so you can join everybody else." He ordered.  
"Sure thing _boss_" Tsuna taunted, she couldn't help herself, she loved to challenge authority when she was upset. She knew it wasn't smart but the way the short guy acted really got her all worked up on top of her being pissed off at Hiro and Allen for trying to put the blame all on her.  
"Tsuna!" Daniel chided quietly from next to her, warning her to stop before she got in more trouble.  
"Excuse me?" Levi turned towards her and gave her a glare.  
"Tch. Nothin." She glared back. She didn't want to risk getting her friend in more trouble since they were obviously coconspirators, so she headed Daniel's warning. Levi turned back towards the other Survey Corps members, completely ignoring Tsuna, much to Daniel's relief. Tsuna redirected her attention to picking up the dismantled table surfboard and stowing the pieces away for later. After her and Daniel returned they found all the Survey Corps members gathered in the mess hall. They headed towards a table to sit at, they opted out of joining Hiro and Allen choosing to instead ignore them completely.  
After that, Levi went over some stuff about how Survey Corps members will stay there and try to integrate with them, but for the trainees to remember that they are their superiors and blah blah as Tsuna tuned him out. After a few minutes of talking to the 105th and then to the S.C members, he left. Tsuna took this opportunity to find certain traitors and righteously punish their transgression with a few flying fists to their faces and kicks to their groins.  
"What the hell Tsuna?!" Hiro groaned out from his position on the floor. Hiro was kneeling with his hands between his legs in pain while Allen settled for fetal position on the floor.  
"Exactly what I was gonna say! What's the big idea trying to rat me out to save yourselves?" They looked sheepishly and painfully away from her.  
"Ah- well… I guess you're right. Sorry Tsu" Hiro said obviously feeling slightly guilty.  
"Me too" Allen replied the best he could, obviously not taking the assault on his manly hood very well.  
"Yea yea. Don't let it happen again" Tsuna said smiling at her friend. She's done the same thing before so she wasn't too mad just irritated that they used her trick against her.  
"Look at you two, getting beat up by a girl!" Said a snarky voice from somewhere behind the trio. Tsuna turned around to find a tall fairly built guy with black hair and dark eyes.  
"Huh? You want some too?" Tsuna threatened₂  
"Hah, like I'd waste my time on a small fry like you" The guy laughed mockingly.  
"Shudup Mason, or I'll kick your ass" Tsuna grinded out between clenched teeth.  
"Why don't you just try it, _tiny_" Mason sneered. Tsuna got in a fighting stance but Daniel grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder and walked away before she could react.  
"Cool your jets, haven't you gotten in enough trouble tonight?" he asked still carrying her.  
"Hmph" she turned her head away from him obviously upset that he interrupted her would be fight. Tsuna decided to just hang there and let herself be carried around without knowing where they were going. The trip ended shortly and they were still inside the mess hall. Maybe I'll take a nap here, she thought to herself. She knew if she did then Daniel would take her to her bunk so she wasn't worried about that. She decided that she would take a nap, until Daniel started talking to the Survey Corps people, then she decided she would eavesdrop.  
"Hey there cutie" She heard Daniel say. She turned to look the best she could and saw a girl with brown hair and light brown eyes, looking thoroughly confused and flustered.  
"H-hi" she replied, still taken aback.  
"I'm Daniel, what's your name?" Daniel asked, obviously flirting with the poor thing.  
"Sasha…" She said with weariness. Tsuna suppressed a chuckle. Between Daniels way too up front flirting and her 'what the hell is going on' attitude, this was pretty funny.  
"Leave the poor thing alone" Tsuna said, still holding back her laughter.  
"But she's cute" Daniel argued, intent on hitting on Sasha.  
"Well that means she's outta your league buddy" Tsuna laughed at him. Daniel made a noise of feigned hurt, probably accompanied by a similar face Tsuna couldn't see due to the fact that she was still draped over his back.  
"Oh? Did you want me to drop you on your ass?" Daniel threatened.  
"Oh? Do you want me to put you on yours too?" Tsuna mock threatened. From what Tsuna could see, most of the other Survey Corps members were talking amongst themselves, a few had been watching Daniel try to put the moves on the Sasha girl. They looked like they had been entertained by Daniel's attempts at seducing Sasha. Daniel completely ignored her statement in favor of redirecting his attention to the girl in front of him. He tried making small talk with her, he was surprisingly successful in his attempts which Tsuna began tuning out in favor of that nap she had wanted to take. After about a minute or two he asked if she was hungry, the girl's eyes lit up at that and she said yea. Daniel asked if she wanted to go eat with him and she instantly agreed with great enthusiasm. Tsuna who was on the verge of sleep, still hanging off of Daniels shoulder, was promptly awoken as she felt herself falling and her ass hitting something. Her eyes bolted open and she looked to see Daniel walking off with that Sasha girl and found that she had been dropped on the table's bench that they were standing by.  
"Oi! Daniel! What the fuck bro? You're gonna do this to me?" Tsuna half yelled at him irritated that her makeshift bed had walked away. He turned around and offered her a huge grin of satisfaction.  
"Tch, asshole" Tsuna mumbled "not like you have a chance anyways…" She watched Daniel get the girl some food and sit with her as she ate. Tsuna noted that she ate like she was a starving wild animal. Tsuna also noted that Daniel didn't seem deterred by this at all.  
"Hey" Tsuna jumped and made a slight 'eek' of surprise at the voice that snapped her out of her day dreaming. She whipped her head to the side to find the source of the voice. She saw a short boy with shaved hair and bright hazel eyes. The guy looked just as surprised as Tsuna, probably due to her reaction.  
"…hey" Tsuna replied cautiously. The guy smile sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.  
"Heh, sorry 'bout that" he said, he seemed genuine in his apology and Tsuna decided he was probably on ok guy.  
"Oh, it's all good. I probably shouldn't space out so much" Tsuna said and laughed. This made the guy relax and smile too.  
"So, is this a regular thing for him?" the boy said while gesturing towards Daniel who looked to be having a goofy conversation full of grandeur hand movements and intense faces with Sasha. Tsuna noticed that the guy speaking to her seemed almost down put and maybe jealous.  
"Hmm, jealous are we?" Tsuna said teasingly. The statement got a nice blush out of the boy and a shocked expression.  
"Huh? Me? No, I was just wondering, that's all!" He said way too quickly for it to be a good cover up.  
"If you say so… don't worry about it though. He likes to think of himself as a womanizer but he never gets far. The only reason she even seemed interested was for the food I think." Tsuna said with a smile, the guy seemed to seriously consider her words and looked back at the two who were a few tables down from them. He laughed.  
"Yea, sounds like her." He said while continuing to look at the Sasha girl with a smile. "Oh! I'm Connie by the way." He redirected his attention towards Tsuna and held out his hand.  
"I'm Tsuna" she smiled and shook his hand. He seems pretty nice she thought to herself. "You guys are from the Survey Corps right?" she asked him.  
"Yea, I guess we're gonna be staying here for a while. We're supposed to be in disguise and staying low key for a while."  
"Is it like a secret mission?!" Tsuna had quickly shifted from her position of sitting on her butt to perching on her feet on the bench, now facing Connie with excitement.  
"Y-yea. Something like that." He replied with surprise and humor in his voice. Tsuna beamed with excitement.  
"Sugoi!" Tsuna said with awe. "That must mean you guys are like super awesome, right?" Connie chuckled.  
"Well I wouldn't say 'super awesome' but yea, we're pretty good" He said, a now smug expression donning his face.  
"How long have you been in the Survey Corps?" Tsuna asked, still relatively excited.  
"Ah, about half a year or so. Not too long."  
"Does that mean you guys are from the 104th trainees' squad?" She asked in curiosity.  
"Yea"  
"Were you in the top 10?!" she asked, excited again. Connie beamed a smug smile once again.  
"Yup, I was ranked 8th" He said, obviously proud of himself.  
"Whoa, you're pretty good then!" Tsuna said in slight admiration.  
"Ehh, He's ok" A new voice said from behind Tsuna. She turned around to see a guy with short light brown hair and light brown eyes. He had an expression on his face that said he wasn't being serious. Tsuna considered his tone of voice and decided he meant no harm. She thought to herself off handedly that he was a good looking guy.  
"Oi, Jean, butt out" Connie said back to the 'Jean' guy in slight irritation at the friendly jab.  
"Who're you?" Tsuna asked, or rather politely demanded. The 'Jean' guy turned his attention to her and Tsuna swore she saw the slightest tint of pink light up his cheeks. She looked intently back at him waiting for an answer.  
"I, uh, I'm Jean" He slightly stuttered. Tsuna figured the stutter was from her sudden serious seeming demeanor and question. She hadn't tried to come across as serious, she was more curious about who the guy was than anything else.  
"Oh. Hi Jean, I'm Tsuna." She smiled at him and gave a slight wave with her hand. He definitely blushed this time but Tsuna was oblivious to it.  
"Hi" He said back.  
"Hey Jean, go find some other conversation to interrupt" Connie said from behind Tsuna.  
"Oh, yea that's right! If you said that he's only 'ok' does that mean you were ranked higher than him?" Tsuna asked Jean with excitement and interest. Jean's flustered face suddenly garnered a more haughty and confident expression.  
"Yup, that's right. I was ranked 6th in our class" He said while pointed his thumb towards himself and smiling smugly. Tsuna's eyes lit up with awe.  
"Wow, 6th. That's pretty impressive" Tsuna said still in admiration. "You're both pretty talented" she said and looked back at Connie too.  
"Huh?! Tsuna, I hope you know you'll be in the top 10 too." She heard off to her side. She turned to look and she saw her good friends Amy and William. Amy was a nice girl with shoulder blade length light red-brown hair and hazel eyes. William was a slightly taller than average guy with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a very welcoming, charismatic personality. Amy was the one who had spoken.  
"Yea Tsuna, I wouldn't be surprised at all if you were in the top 5 at least." William spoke this time.  
"Ehh?!" Connie made a noise of surprise accompanied by a fitting look. Tsuna looked back at him and gave a sheepish smile.  
"Well, I don't know about that." Tsuna said back to Amy and William.  
"Oh stop with the modesty, everyone here knows you're gonna be at least top 10, no doubt." William said teasingly but honestly.  
"No, I'm seriously not that good you guys. I just act like I am. Besides, it doesn't really matter what you guys think, it's up to Shadis isn't it?" Tsuna said, trying to convince her fellow trainees that they were seriously over estimating her. William ignored her comment and looked at Connie and Jean.  
"Don't fall for her tricks you two," he joked, "while she seems like a bit of a clumsy airhead, she is very good, she just doesn't act like it unless we're getting graded." He said and Amy agreed enthusiastically.  
"Oh, buzz off. Go be a busy body couple somewhere else" Tsuna teased them with a smile. Amy blushed and William put his hand around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.  
"Jealous you don't have someone Tsu?" He teased with a smirk.  
"Pfft, as if." Amy giggled at her and William smiled triumphantly at his jibe and getting his girlfriend to laugh. They walked off and William offered a wave over his shoulder. Tsuna feigned a grumpy face and crossed her arms.  
"Anyways, they're total bullshiters. I'm seriously not top 10 material." Tsuna said to Jean and Connie in a slightly dejected voice. Suddenly she jumped up from her perch on the bench and turned to face both boys "If you'd like, you could join me and my friends for some diner" she offered both boys.  
"Sure" Connie stood up from his place on the bench and he and Tsuna looked at Jean for his answer.  
"You don't have to, I was just offerin'" Tsuna said to make sure he didn't feel obligated.  
"Oh, no, its fine. Sure, I'll join you." He said and turned to join them from where he was standing next to the table. Tsuna looked at both guys and noted that they were both taller than her, although Jean was much taller than Connie too. Tsuna then noticed that they were both staring at her.  
"You're short" Connie said in slight astonishment that he actually had to look down on someone. Tsuna made a noise of hurt and looked at him with a 'really?' look. Jean chuckled from next to Connie.  
"Actually, she might even be shorter than Historia." Jean said to Connie and they both made looks of contemplation.  
"Hey, Historia!" Connie had turned around and shouted to one of his fellow Survey Corps members. A small blond haired girl with blue eyes turned to look at them and started walking towards them when Connie waved her over. "We were just talking to Tsuna here and we wanted to see if she might be shorter than you." The girl looked at Tsuna with an almost apologetic look and offered a smile, Tsuna returned it. Jean and Connie had them get back to back so they could compare them  
"Whoa, now way." Connie said with a look of bewilderment  
"I can't believe it. You're even shorter than Historia" Jean said with equal shock, he had grabbed the top of Tsuna's head, turned her towards him and bent down slightly, seeming to inspect her.  
"Yea, and I thought she was short" Connie gestured towards the 'Historia' girl "No offense Historia" she smiled in a way that indicated no offense was taken. Jean nodded in agreement with Connie's initial statement then turned back to Tsuna who he was still holding onto.  
"Just how tall, or rather how short are you?" Jean asked Tsuna. Tsuna had on a look of embarrassment and the slightest amount of irritation but she'd gone through this too many times to really get upset about it. Tsuna's eyes looked towards the floor at the question as she blushed from the combination of having a guy so close to her face holding her in place by her head and from being the center of attention.  
"U-um, I'm 140cm (4'7)" Tsuna said bashfully. Connie noticed Tsuna's discomfort and felt somewhat responsible for having started the whole thing about her being short.  
"Let's go get some food now" Connie offered, trying to make Tsuna less uncomfortable "And thanks for your help, Historia." He said to the girl who nodded with a smile and walked back towards this other girl who was tall and had dark hair and a dark complexion with freckles. They started talking to each other. Tsuna, Connie and Jean headed to get food from the kitchen part of the building. Tsuna saw Hiro and Allen waiting in line for food and they saw her too. They expected to her go up to them and talk to them but she chose to still ignore them as punishment for their earlier betrayal.  
"Don't you know those two?" Connie said from behind her as they waited in the other of the lines to get food, diner time had just started a little bit ago so most of the people were in line to get food. Tsuna and co.'s table surfboard incident had been a way to pass time as they waited for diner time. Tsuna turned to look at Connie.  
"Yea, they're _supposed_ to be my friends," Tsuna said loud enough for Hiro and Allen to hear, "but I'm ignoring them for trying to rat me out earlier."  
"Oh, you mean when you got in trouble for riding on whatever that was earlier" Jean asked with a slight chuckle, Connie snickered too. Tsuna turned red in embarrassment and laughed nervously.  
"It's a table surfboard. And yea, they acted like they had nothing to do with it when it was their idea in the first place." Tsuna was obviously irritated at her friend's betrayal.  
"Do you always do stuff like that around here?" Jean asked.  
"I don't always table surfboard, but I do goof off a lot with my friends, it usually doesn't end up as good as it did tonight. Shadis usually gets us in a lot more trouble but I guess we got lucky, or at least Daniel and I did, those traitors got what they deserved though." Tsuna said. Hiro and Allen had 'discreetly' gotten closer to them.  
"That's not fair Tsuna, you know you've blamed us for stuff too." Hiro said with a pout. Tsuna turned to face him with a look of extreme irritation.  
"Yea, and that was like at least a year ago and we decided not to blame each other for things anymore and own up to the things we do, or at least I _thought_ we had."  
"I know, we said we're sorry. Honestly I was just scared and spoke before I thought about it. I didn't mean to, it was an accident." Hiro said still pouting, he did feel bad about it and he understood where Tsuna came from. Promises were a big thing to her and he knew it. Next to him, Allen looked upset too and he offered Tsuna a hug. Tsuna sighed and rolled her eyes but accepted it none the less.  
"You guys are lucky I can't stay mad at you long" she said. Allen laughed.  
"Yea, we know Tsu." He said, letting her go from the hug.  
"Go back to your line before you lose your place you dorks, I'll save you a spot at the table if we get there first." Tsuna said as she ushered them to go back to their line as people had already joined the line that Jean, Connie and herself were in.  
After they had gotten their food, Tsuna lead Jean and Connie to a table where Allen, Hiro, Amy, William and a few others were at, there was a spot open next to Hiro and two spots open next to William. Tsuna sat next to William, Connie sat next to Hiro and Jean sat next to Tsuna. Allen was next to Hiro and across from William. He seemed to be in a deep conversation with William and Amy, Tsuna didn't bother to pay attention to what they were talking about though. Jean and she were fairly close together because there wasn't enough room for them to be too spaced out. Tsuna blushed slightly as she felt his leg bump into hers. She looked down at her food, some stew and a small loaf of bread. She pushed the stew forward towards the middle of the table and just took the bread and started nibbling on it. Jean looked down at her in curiosity.  
"You aren't gonna eat that?" he asked, not expecting to get it but just out of interest.  
"Oh, uh, no. You can have it if you want." She said rather quietly.  
"Why aren't you gonna eat it?" He knew that bread alone couldn't possibly keep her full. She went wide eyed and red faced at his question and chose to fill her mouth with bread rather than answer. _She looks embarrassed_ he thought to himself  
"The stew has some meat in it and Tsuna doesn't like to eat meat" Hiro said from across the table. Jean and Connie both gave her a surprised look.  
"Huh? Why not?" Connie asked this time. Tsuna's face got even redder and once again she opted for a mouthful of bread. Hiro chuckled.  
"She feels sad when she eats meat cause she knows it means an animal died." He explained. Connie and Jean looked even more surprised.  
"What? Is that true Tsuna?" Connie asked. Tsuna barely nodded her head, still very red faced.  
"Why're you so embarrassed?" Jean teased. He thought that it was a rather endearing thing that she thought like that, although he probably could never be the same way.  
"I-I'm not" Tsuna said still pretty quietly and still focusing on her bread.  
"That's not very convincing" said Connie with an expression that said he was entertained by her embarrassment at something that wasn't even a big deal.  
"She used to get picked on for it, especially when we were younger and I guess it makes her a little self-conscious about it." Hiro clarified for the two males.  
"H-hey! Don't go telling people that!" Tsuna tried yelling at him for it but it didn't come out nearly as intimidating as she wanted it to. She then settled for lowering her head and refocusing on her bread. Jean reached out and grabbed her head and forced her to look up at him.  
"That's not really something to be embarrassed about, hell, I could never give up eating meat for a sentiment like that so I think you should be proud of yourself" he said encouragingly to her. Tsuna's blush deepened and all she could do was stare at him in wonder. Nobody had ever said something like that to her except people like her lifelong friends Hiro, Allen and Daniel. "In fact, the only thing that's shameful is not being yourself, so whatever people said to you before is meaningless. Okay?" All Tsuna could do was look at the guy in front of her in awe. It was then that she noticed how handsome he was. She found herself giving a slight nod.  
"Y-yes" she said breathlessly. He smiled and let go of her head. She remained looking at him for a few more seconds before she lowered her head back to look at her bread. She didn't eat it, she just looked at it thinking. _All this time I was so afraid of what people thought of me, of how I'm different from normal people_._ Is it really okay to just be myself?_ Tsuna contemplated his words a couple more seconds. She turned back to Jean.  
"A-ano…" Jean turned to look at her and Tsuna regretted saying something "I- uh, well, um…" she started to blush because she was completely overreacting and she knew it and she knew she seemed laughable and she really needed to just say something instead of looking like a fish out of water. "Um, you can have that if you want…" She said and pointed at the stew she didn't eat. While it wasn't what she was going to say, it was better than nothing. The whole time he had been looking at her with an expression of mild humor. Hiro was looking suspiciously between the two and Connie had started to stuff his face with his own food, looking at the scene slightly interested. Jean chuckled and patted her head.  
"If you insist" he said while taking the bowl of stew and eating it. He had a look that said he knew that that's not what she wanted to say or ask but Tsuna was glad he hadn't questioned her and that he let it go. She looked up to Hiro worriedly because he wasn't one to let things slip by. He sat there sipping his drink looking at her with devious eyes, then he directed his attention towards Jean.  
"You're Jean correct?" Hiro received a nod in return, "I'm Hiro, nice to meet you" Hiro said and held out his hand. Jean shook it. "Do you know how long you Survey Corps members will be staying here?" He asked.  
"We weren't given an exact amount of time but we were told to expect at least a couple weeks."  
"Oh well in that case if you continue to hang around Tsuna I suppose we'll become good friends." He smiled. To anyone who didn't know Hiro really well, the smile would seem purely kind with no ulterior meaning, but to someone who had been his friend for years like Tsuna, the smile was kind but it also meant that he _did _have an ulterior motive and that he knew something or had planned something no one else knew about. He turned to Connie "and you're Connie right?"  
"Yup" Connie said with a smile.  
"Like I said, I'm Hiro" he returned the smile and exchanged a handshake with the shorter guy. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are the two of you?" Connie who had just taken a bit of his stew hurriedly chewed and swallowed his bite.  
"I'm 16" Connie said in a way that made it seem like an accomplishment. Hiro nodded his head and then turned towards Jean.  
"I'm 16 as well" Jean said "how old are you guys?" He looked at Hiro then at Tsuna.  
"I just so happen to be 16 too." Hiro said in his usual upbeat voice.  
"I'm 15" Tsuna said still somewhat quiet from her earlier embarrassment. Jean smirked.  
"So you're the little one in more than one way" he said jokingly and laughed, Connie and Hiro joined him in his laughter as Tsuna once again got red.  
"I'm not little!" She said in defense. They just laughed harder. She decided she'd had enough of their mockery and that she would go find Daniel. She halfway stood and turned to get out from the bench on but her foot got caught and she let out a squeak of surprise and horror as she saw the floor getting closer and closer to her face. She closed her eyes and readied herself for the impact but instead of feeling the hard floor against her face she instead felt an arm around her stomach. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down at the arm, her eyes followed the arm to it's shoulder and then to the head on top of the shoulders and she saw Jeans face. She then realized that her hands had gripped onto the part of his arm that was touching her stomach and that her hands weren't letting go even though she kept telling them to. She just stared at Jean for a couple seconds before he lifted her from her horizontal position to a vertical one. Her hands still didn't let go and she was still just looking at him.  
"You should be more careful" he said to her, not scolding or meanly but somewhat caring. She nodded and finally her hands let go of his arm. He retracted it from her waist and she turned to sit again.  
"That was a close one Tsuna, you're lucky he caught you." She heard Allen say from next to Hiro and she heard William snicker.  
"It's not like she hasn't face planted the ground before" him and Allen both chuckled at that. She tried her best to glare at them but she wasn't taken seriously. She gave up and instead turned to Jean who, along with Hiro and Connie, was watching Allen and William with slight humor.  
"Th-thank you." Tsuna said to Jean and his eyes immediately redirected their attention to her. He took a few seconds to take in her appearance. She had odd white hair that looked to be fairly long, instead of being a deterrent he thought it was more complementing to her features. She had these big, light crystal blue eyes that had such an innocent look in them. She was pretty light skinned and had a very good complexion for a teenager training to be a soldier. He realized suddenly that she was actually quite beautiful, he thought to himself that she may even be more appealing than Mikasa.  
"No problem" he said, forcing himself to stop staring at her. He looked towards Hiro and immediately regretted it when he saw an all too sly smile and a very suggestive head nod from his direction to Tsuna's. His face turned slight red and he turned his attention back to what was left of his food.  
"So, do either of you have girlfriends?" Hiro asked and Jean nearly choked on his food, he looked up incredulously at Hiro and Hiro gave him and even slyer smile in return.  
"No" Connie said dejectedly from next to Hiro. Tsuna giggled from next to Jean.  
"He may not have one but he sure does have his eyes on someone" she said with another giggle. Connie's face got red.  
"N-no" he said with hardly any conviction.  
"Uh-huh, you like that Sasha girl" she turned her attention to Hiro "you see the one that Dan was trying to hit up?" She received an intense nod in return "Yea, that's the one he likes!" Tsuna pointed to Connie at 'he'.  
"Ohhh" Hiro said all smooth and sly as he turned to face Connie, "she's a real cutie, but her table habits seemed a bit much for my taste" he teased Connie with a few nudges to his arm and a wag from his eyebrow. Connie just got redder and decided to keep quiet. Tsuna giggled which brought Hiro's attention to Jean.  
"And what about you, Jean" he said with a very devious look "do you have a special someone in your life?"  
"Me? Nah, not really." Jean said trying to play it cool but probably failing miserably.  
"Oh, that's a real shame" Hiro said, obviously not meaning it. _Is this kid really trying to hook me up with Tsuna? She probably has lots of guys interested in her or she's probably interested in one of the guys here, that she actually knows_, Jean thought to himself.  
"What about you, Hiro?" Jean said with a slightly snarky undertone. "Don't you have a girlfriend or something?" Hiro looked slightly surprised at the question and Tsuna Giggled behind her hand. Next to Hiro, Allen gained a sudden interest in the conversation.  
"Actually my friend, while I don't have a girlfriend, I do have someone very special to me" Hiro said with a smirk. "I don't particularly find girls attractive in that way, I'm much more into guys" he said as he reached over around Allen's shoulders, tugged him close against his chest and kissed the top of Allen's head. Connie looked shocked and Jean looked slightly shocked as well but he also wore a grin.  
"What?! You seemed like a total womanizer! Like a chick magnet, y'know?" Connie said still surprised.  
"Yea, I get that. It's a real shame, I always feel bad when I have to let some nice girl know that I'll never be into her." Hiro said with a grim look but it instantly changed to a pleasant one "but I wouldn't trade this guy for any of them." From under Hiro's arm, Allen blushed slightly while smiling at the sweet words of his boyfriend. Tsuna looked at Connie and Jean worried about their reactions to her friends' homosexual relationship but was relieved when she saw Connie's shocked expression had turned into a smirk and that Jean still wore his grin. Although Jean expression also held something more devious, it didn't seem like he meant any harm to Tsuna's friends so she didn't bother worrying.  
"I'm gonna go find Daniel, I'll talk to you guys later" Tsuna said while carefully getting up from the table and walking off with a wave.  
"Okay, see you later" Connie said.  
"Yea, talk to you later" Jean said a little eagerly. He was slightly disappointed at her departure. It wasn't that he liked her, he did find her attractive but it was more like she was nice and easy to be around and that's why he felt slight disappointment. It was kinda like having a clumsy, female Marco around he thought to himself.  
"Bye Tsu!" Hiro said, still happily holding Allen.  
"Bye" Allen said, he had a relatively deep voice compared to his boyfriend.  
"You know, neither one of you seem like your gay. I don't mean that as an insult, I just totally didn't expect you two to be gay _and_ a couple." Jean said with genuine interest. He received a small chuckle from Hiro.  
"Actually, I'm the only gay one, Allen here is pansexual" Hiro said as he looked down to Allen with a loving look.  
"What's pansexual?" Connie asked looking really confused.  
"Pansexual means that gender is pretty irrelevant to him, someone who is pansexual doesn't discriminate between genders and instead looks for love with a person instead of love with a 'boy' or love with a 'girl'" Hiro explained. Connie still looked pretty confused and Hiro decided he'd try and make things a little simpler. Jean found Connie's lack of knowledge pretty humorous. So their conversation continued on and eventually turned to random small talk.

Tsuna found herself searching for Daniel, he wasn't with the Sasha girl anymore and he didn't seem to be in the mess hall. She double checked around the hall and decided to go look outside. She headed towards the door, receiving a couple greetings from some of her friends along the way. A lot of the people in the 105th trainees' squad liked Tsuna because she was nice, funny, caring and had a good moral. There were a few people, like Mason, who didn't necessarily hate her but they definitely didn't get along with her. Tsuna neared the door and as she stepped out she tripped over a warped board. She found herself for a second time that day falling face first towards the ground, only this time there wasn't someone next to her to catch her. She braced for impact, somehow unable to bring her hands to her face. Next thing she knew she was being grabbed around the waist from behind. She ended up being suspended in midair by the hold on her waist.  
"Whoa there" she heard from right behind her. She didn't recognize the voice at all. She grabbed the arm that was around her waist in a vice like grip and turned her head towards whoever just saved her. She saw a tall, built guy with short blond hair. She followed the arm from his shoulder just to make sure that he was indeed the guy who rescued her. She blushed when she saw that he was in fact the guy who had her suspended in midair with one arm. She blushed more when she noticed that he was very ruggedly handsome. She moved her mouth to say 'thank you' but nothing came out and she ended up looking like a fish. He laughed and lowered her to her feet. It took Tsuna a second to let go of his arm and when she did she looked back up to his face to notice that he was a lot taller than her.  
"Um, thank you" She said quietly. She was still blushing, out of embarrassment and the fact that the guy was really good looking. From off to her side she heard a familiar boisterous laugh. She turned to see Daniel a couple feet away bent over holding his stomach laughing. She glared at him and he just laughed harder. She just sighed in return. She noticed that he was standing next to a very tall guy, who was also pretty good looking. He was at least a foot and a half taller than her with dark hair and green eyes.  
"Could you turn any redder Tsu?!" Daniel managed between his laughter. Tsuna did in fact get redder at his comment and shyly turned her head towards her feet and grabbed her right arm with her left hand as a nervous habit.  
"Sh-shuddup Daniel" Tsuna tried to sound intimidating but failed miserably. "Whatever, I'm leaving anyways" she said as she turned around and began to walk away. She was stopped by a hand grabbing her arm. She turned around to see the big blond guy that had saved her was the one who grabbed her.  
"You're just gonna walk away without telling me your name?" He asked with a smile, almost a smirk but it could pass as a smile. Tsuna blushed bright red once again and stared at him with her mouth slightly open. She realized she was staring and averted her eyes to the ground.  
"Ts-Tsuna" she managed to get out. She looked back up at him and saw that he had a half smile adorning his face.  
"Well hey Tsuna, I'm Reiner" he said. She noticed he was still holding her arms and she looked at it and blushed more. He took a half step closer to her and then let go. They were fairly close together now and Tsuna felt very nervous and flushed. Daniel's laughter finally subsided from off to her right.  
"Whoa there buddy, you're pretty smooth aren't you?" he teased Reiner. Reiner just gave a chuckle in return.  
"Hm, I guess you could say that" he said while still eying Tsuna who was getting very embarrassed, not only at their words but at the closeness of the handsome guy in front of her.  
"So where were you headed Tsu?" Daniel asked her with a smile in his voice. She turned her attention towards her friend.  
"Actually I _was_ looking for you but now I don't know if I want to be around you" she said as she turned her nose at him in a way that showed she was upset. She was also trying to get over the heavy flirting from the guy in front of her.  
"Ho-ho don't be like that, it's not my fault you got the hot's for him" Daniel laughed out. Tsuna whipped her head towards him and looked at him incredulously and angrily she momentarily debated if she should kick his ass or not. "Okay, okay. I'm only teasing Tsu" he had put his hands up in mock surrender. Tsuna made a 'tch' noise and began to walk away. "No, don't leave Tsuna, I was teasing, I'm sorry" he said as she continued to walk away "really Tsu, I'm sorry. Come back here so I can make it up to you." She stopped and turned towards him.  
"Oh? And how would you do that?" she asked him with irritation and disbelief in her voice.  
"I'll let you join us" Tsuna gave him a 'whatever' look and turned to walk again, "wait! _And_ I was going to say that I'll give you a piggy-back ride too, as long as you want until bedtime." She considered this.  
"And, if you'll let me use you in jousting during training tomorrow." Tsuna bargained. Daniel laughed.  
"Deal" he said and Tsuna walked back towards him. "You wanna ride on my back or on my shoulders?" He asked her and she considered the question for a few seconds.  
"Shoulders" She said. He reached towards her and grabbed her under her arms, lifted her up and swung her around behind him and finally up onto his shoulders. There she leaned down and rested on his head. He smiled and gave a small chuckle at her adorableness. Reiner and the super tall guy watched the scene play out in amusement. Tsuna realized that there were still other people around and she tensed up, also realizing just how stupid she must have looked. She then remembered what Jean had said about being herself and relaxed a little.  
"Oh, and by the way, this is Bertolt" Daniel said and gestured to the tall guy next to them that was nearly as tall as Tsuna was on top of Daniel's shoulders. Of course Tsuna's short body hunched over like it was didn't add hardly anything to Daniel's height, she was still amazed at the Bertolt guy's height. She noticed he was looking at her with a small smile so she smiled back at him.  
"Hello, I'm Tsuna" she said happily. He mumbled a 'hey' in return.  
"He's a little shy" Daniel said from bellow her.  
"Hey Daniel!" William had walked out of the mess hall and called Daniel "Come with me to the bunks, I have something to show you." William said to Daniel.  
"What is it?" Daniel asked out of both curiosity and laziness, if he could do whatever needed to be done without going somewhere he'd be much happier.  
"Just come see, but Tsu can't come" William said as he turned to Tsuna "Sorry" he gave her an apologetic look.  
"One sec" Daniel said and William nodded and headed towards the 105th sleeping quarters. Daniel looked up towards Tsuna the best he could and Tsuna bent over his head to look at him, albeit upside down. "Sorry Tsuna, looks like I'm gonna have ta put you-…" He stopped as he looked forward and deviously grinned "Hey Reiner" Daniel said and Reiner looked at him. "You mind doing me a favor?" Daniel's grin turned sly.


	2. Walks in the Dark

**Chapter 2: Walks in the Dark**

"What favor?" Reiner asked. He wasn't just going to blindly agree to something that a grinning idiot was asking him for.

"I need you to hold something for me while I go check out what William needs." Daniel said with a 'if you know what I mean' kinda face. Reiner looked confused for a second but then his eyes widened slightly in understanding and then he grinned too.

"Sure, I don't mind." He said. Tsuna thought the two of them were being weird and therefore she looked at them like they were a couple of nut jobs. She hadn't caught on to the hidden meaning behind Daniel's words so she was surprised when Daniel stepped closer to Reiner and lifted her from off of his shoulders and instead of setting her down, he handed her to Reiner and then gave a little chuckle and thanks as he walked off. Tsuna was staring wide eyed at Reiner and started to blush. She heard a soft chuckle from off to her side and turned to look at Bertolt who looked like he found the scene humorous. Tsuna looked back at Reiner not knowing what he was doing just holding her there.

"You're really light" Reiner said more to himself than anything. Tsuna blushed more. Reiner easily lifted Tsuna up and around him to his shoulders. Tsuna let out a small noise of surprise and wrapped her legs around his chest and reached down to lightly hold onto him by the neck. This made herself halfway wrap around his head, she had a slight look a fear on her face.

"Wh-what're you doing?" Tsuna asked in a shaky voice. She heard and felt Reiner chuckle from under her.

"'M holding you" he said matter-of-factly, like it was no big deal. To Tsuna it _was_ a big deal. She hardly knew the guy, he was a few inches taller than Daniel, and she was afraid he'd drop her, on top of that she had just been thinking of how attractive he was and _now_ she was on his shoulders, the thought made her face get really warm and she knew she was bright red.

"Y-you don't have to" she said hoping he'd agree and put her down.

"I know," he agreed, "but that doesn't mean I can't" but he didn't put her down, instead he reached up and held onto her legs that were still wrapped around his large chest the best they could.

"Want to go on a walk?" Bertolt said from next to them. Reiner turned towards him and thought about the question for a couple seconds.

"Sure, why not." He said and they started walking. Tsuna squeezed him harder with her legs and slightly harder with her arms. She ducked her face against the top of his head. She heard him chuckle again. "You okay up there?" he asked with a smile in his voice. Tsuna didn't answer and instead gripped him tighter and tried to hide her face more. Both Reiner and Bertolt laughed, it didn't feel like they were laughing _at_ her or making fun of her, it felt different, friendlier rather than harsh. With her face buried against Reiner's head she could smell what he smelt like and she blushed when instead of smelling like some stinky boy, he actually smelled pleasant and almost comforting. She blushed when she realized what she had been thinking.

"I'll go grab a lantern" Bertolt said and fast walked off to do as he said he would. Tsuna's hold on Reiner didn't let up, she wondered briefly if she might've been choking or hurting him but she figured by the way he was leisurely walking and still holding onto her legs. She heard walking approaching them and saw Bertolt had come back with a lantern as he said he would. She thought to herself that Bertolt was very handsome as she watched him walk up next to Reiner and herself. He looked at her and smiled, she blushed and returned her face to Reiner's hair. They started walking off towards a forest area.

"So Tsuna, how do you like training to be a soldier?" Reiner asked from bellow Tsuna, she lifted her head up and contemplated the question.

"It's nice, to me. I like it." She said quietly but both boys heard her.

"You like it?" Reiner asked kinda incredulously but also curiously. Bertolt had turned to look at her, his face was unreadable.

"Y-yea, I do" she began and figured he was asking for an explanation "I feel like becoming a soldier is giving me purpose. I like that I'm becoming someone useful and that I can be here with my friends and watch them become strong too." She said with a slight smile. Bertolt looked at her again, well he had been looking at her off and on but he looked intently at her this time.

"Why did you want to become a soldier?" Bertolt asked her. She turned to look at him.

"Well, I guess I had a few reasons. I wanted to be able to protect the people I cared about and I wanted to come here because that's what Hiro, Daniel and Allen were going to do. We've been together since we were kids so I figured we should stick together. And…" Tsuna paused and her expression got somewhat gloomy and dark. "I wanted revenge against them, against the titans for taking from us, for taking from me and the people I care for. I want to kill all of them, or die trying." Tsuna said with a serious look in her eyes. Bertolt looked away and towards the ground, Tsuna didn't notice but he had a pained expression on his face. Bellow her Reiner had a similar reaction. "Does it make me a fool for thinking like that?" Tsuna asked quietly. Bertolt's eyes snapped to her face and Reiner tensed slightly below her.

"No, I'd say it makes you a lot braver than most people" Reiner said from under her.

"If you don't mind me asking, you had said you wanted revenge on the titans for taking from you, what exactly did they take from you?" Bertolt asked and Tsuna looked towards him. Their eyes locked and Tsuna's insides fluttered momentarily. Her expression turned sad and she looked away.

"They took… everything from me, everything I had loved. The only thing I have left from my childhood is Hiro, Allen and Daniel. Everything else the titans stole from me." Tsuna had tears in her eyes but she blinked them away before they could fall. "My parents were killed by titans when I was really little, my dad had been in the Survey Corps and my mom often went with him. I was left alone with my little sister and Daniel, who had been living with us because his parents were killed too. We lived pretty close to Shiganshina district so when the wall was broke six years ago the titans made it to our village before everyone could evacuate. Me, Daniel and my little sister were running, trying to evacuate, when a titan we hadn't seen came at us from behind. Before I even had time to react it had grabbed h-her" Tsuna was quietly crying by this point and Reiner had gone extremely tense beneath her, tightening his hold on her legs but not quite enough to hurt her. Bertolt looked stricken and pained, he kept his eyes on the ground. Tsuna hardly noticed either of them, she was too busy thinking about what had happened. "The titan had grabbed my sister before I could do anything. I tried to hold onto her but as the titan picked her up my hold on her slipped. All I could do was watch in horror as the titan brought my sister to its mouth. She had cried out to me, but I couldn't do anything besides watch as it devoured her, I was powerless… if it hadn't been for Daniel the titan would have gotten me too, but he had grabbed me and started running again. We didn't encounter anymore titans after that, we got on one of the boats and made it to Trost district where we met up with Hiro and Allen." Tsuna wiped her tears away, she was suddenly thankful that Reiner was carrying her because she didn't think she would have been able to walk on her own. She felt a sense of security from being with the two guys.

"Sorry…" she turned towards Bertolt and looked at him curiously.

"It's not your fault, it's not like you could have stopped it from happening" She said with a warm smile, despite her tears. Bertolt's eyes got wide at her words and he suddenly looked like he was in distress. Both guys just stopped walking and stood there. She couldn't see Reiner but she could feel how tense he was, he had been tense the last few minutes she thought. Bertolt raised his hand to his face and just stared at the ground from between his fingers. Reiner shifted and grabbed her and lowered her down to the ground. Tsuna looked between the two and saw that Reiner also had a shocked distressed look to him. Tsuna wasn't sure why they were acting so strangely so she was worried. "Are you okay?" She reached out and lightly touched Bertolt's forearm. His eyes got really wide again and he looked down at her. His eyes got watery and tears began to fall down his cheeks. Tsuna didn't know why they were upset so she did the only thing she could think of and hugged Bertolt in a comforting manner. It was kinda awkward for her because the height difference, her head rested against his stomach. He tensed up and held his breath for a few seconds before letting it out in a sob, a few more followed and he wrapped his arms around Tsuna.

"I'm so sorry." He said, gripping her tighter. She didn't know why he kept apologizing so she didn't say anything, she just held him for a few more seconds before gently untangling herself from his arms and looking over towards Reiner. He was just staring at her with a wide-eyed, shocked, grievous expression. Bertolt slowly regained most of his composure and Reiner's face became unreadable. He looked away from her and started walking forward again. She went to follow him but was instead picked up by Bertolt. He didn't put her on his back or shoulders, he just carried her bridal style. She hooked her arms up around his neck and he held her closely. Somehow, she felt completely safe and at ease in his arms. She looked up towards his face and looked at him as he faced forward and continued walking. He looked down at her after a few moments and their eyes locked. Tsuna saw an emotion in them that she couldn't quite place, along with sadness. Bertolt studied Tsuna's face, he saw an endearing innocence and kindness in her eyes, it made him feel even worse. He forced himself to look away. They were nearing a barbed wire fence. Reiner had crawled in between two of the wires and was waiting there for them. Bertolt pulled Tsuna away from him, breaking her hold on his neck, she was now extended in midair bridal style. She clutched onto his arms and looked at him worriedly. He lifted her over the fence and suddenly she found another pair of arms were grabbing her. It was Reiner and he was holding her under her arms. Bertolt had let go and crawled through the fence himself. She hung there in Reiner's arms and she stared at Reiner.

"You guys don't have to carry me" she said with a blush, it was kinda embarrassing having a couple of guys she hardly knew carry her around everywhere, even more so when they were both pretty attractive.

"We know" Reiner said matter-of-factly and he gave her a warm smile. She blushed and averted her eyes from his own. He held her a few inches away from his body, she noticed the closeness and blushed. Bertolt had stepped up close behind her, she could faintly feel his body heat radiate through the short distance between them. She felt Bertolt's hands grip her waist-hip area. Suddenly, she was very aware of the fact that the two of them could easily hurt her, they could easily do anything they wanted to her. They were far stronger than her and while Tsuna was a very fast runner, she doubted that she could get away from them in a forest that she didn't know while they apparently knew it quite well. She suddenly felt slightly afraid, she hardly knew anything about them except that they were from the Survey Corps and they _seemed_ friendly. Her body broke out in a slight nervous sweat. And her now wide eyes shot back to Reiner's face looking for even the slightest hint of malice. She found nothing besides a soft smile and understanding, kind eyes. "We aren't going to hurt you… but if you truly feel unsafe, we'll gladly turn back." Reiner said not looking at her but instead favoring the ground. He looked like he was expecting her to hate him, to yell horrible things at him. Tsuna didn't like that look. Yes, she was scared, but she didn't hate him, she didn't look at him like some monster. He looked at her. "You look scared shitless" he said with a scoff that was undoubtedly directed towards himself.

"I… I am scared" Tsuna said and he looked away from her with and 'I knew it face'. "I am scared, but I… I'm gonna trust you" Tsuna said with a determined look in her eyes. She wasn't sure if trusting them was the right choice, she may even die because if she chooses to trust them, but she was determined to make that look go away. That look of self-hate and disgust, the look of guilt and sadness that both boys wore. At her words she felt Bertolt's grip on her hips tighten and Reiner's eyes shot back to her face with a shocked expression.

"Are you sure that that's the right choice?" Reiner said with a look in his eyes that Tsuna couldn't read, it had her scared again but she was determined to stick with her choice. He noticed her fearful determination and smiled to himself. "Well, if you're sure, then let's get going" He said and dropped his hands from her arms and turned to keep walking. She was left in Bertolt's hold from her hips. She reached down and grabbed his forearms, slightly afraid that he'd drop her but when she turned to look at his face the best she could she didn't see any strain in it. She blushed as he pulled her flush against his body.

"If you want to walk, or if you want to return, say so and I'll put you down or take you back." He said. She felt his chest against her back and she blushed at the feeling of his muscles through his shirt. When she nodded he rotated her in his arms so that he could carry her bridal style again. She returned her arms to around his neck, he held her tight and close this time, in an almost protective manner. She once again felt secure and safe. His earlier intimidation still lingering but drowned out with a sense of security. She stared up at him for a few seconds and he gave her a warm smile. She blushed and hid her face against his body. She couldn't believe she had let a couple of strangers walk off into a forest with her just because Daniel had trusted them to hold her. She felt extremely stupid. But she thought to herself that they didn't seem bad, they hadn't hurt her and just moments ago they had had an opportunity to do whatever they pleased to her. She was sure they knew they were stronger than her, that they could easily overwhelm her like this. While Tsuna was a very good fighter during training exercises, she wasn't physically strong and since they had always kept a hold on her, they could easily restrain her and then no matter how skilled she was, it meant _nothing_ if she couldn't move or use her arms. Due to her small size, Tsuna used advanced martial arts to put a stronger opponent's strength and momentum against them when she couldn't overwhelm them. In a situation where she couldn't even move, there was no way that she could overwhelm either of these two due to their sheer size and physical strength. After she was finished analyzing the situation she decided that worrying about it wouldn't help anything and she should just enjoy the quiet of the forest and the luxury of not having to walk. In front of them, she could see the trees thinning and it looked like they opened into a clearing. Tsuna wondered if that was where they were headed. Bertolt was looking ahead towards the clearing, a solemn look plastered on his face. Reiner walked a few steps ahead of them. Tsuna couldn't see his face, but she swore that his shoulders looked slouched, but she figured that maybe it was just the angle she was looking from or something. They reached the edge of the forest and Bertolt put her down, she walked forward till she was a couple steps in front of Reiner and then stopped. She made a small gasping sound as she took in the sight in front of her. There was a lake, shimmering blue with the moons reflection, mountains scattered around the area draped in low floating clouds and beautiful blue tinted green trees. They were standing on a ridge overlooking the sight.

"It's beautiful" she said, amazed. Bertolt walked up to her left and Reiner was still a step behind her on her right. She looked up towards Bertolt and he looked down at her, a soft warm smile gracing his features. The once handsome guy looked almost God-like to Tsuna now, she couldn't do anything but stare up into his now almost glowing green eyes, her mouth slightly agape and a tinge of red spread out on her cheeks. His smile grew more endearing. Reiner reached out and ruffled her hair, startling her out of her trance. Her head whipped towards Reiner, a startled expression plastered on her face, he let out a soft chuckle. She noticed that he looked very dashing too, she blushed when she realized she was looking at an amazing scene, alone, with two equally amazing looking guys. She thought to herself momentarily how strange her newfound attraction to not only Reiner and Bertolt, but Jean as well, was. Before today, she never really looked at guys, or anyone, that way. In fact, Hiro and she had come to the conclusion that she was asexual, and now all of a sudden she was finding herself gawking at boys left and right. No guy had ever made her blush out of attraction or anything except maybe her friends out of embarrassment. She had never marveled at muscles on a guy like she had at Reiner's arms or the feel of Bertolt's chest against her back earlier. She had never been made breathless by a guy like she had been earlier with Jean. She returned her focus to the moment, deciding that she could think of that stuff later when Hiro gossiped with her or when Daniel teased her.

"Yea, it is" Reiner said looking not at the picturesque scene but instead towards Tsuna. Tsuna blushed at the obviousness of the meaning behind his words and how they were slightly cheesy. She found herself caught by his gaze. Her heartbeat sped up in her chest. _Why am I feeling this way?_ She thought to herself, _it was like this earlier around Jean too_. Reiner reached up to her face and grabbed a small section of her hair that had fallen from its spot behind her ear. Instead of tucking it back behind her ear, he ran his light hold down it till he had almost reached the end. He just held it there like he held her gaze. She felt body heat behind her and noted that Bertolt must be fairly close to her. Once again she felt slightly intimidated. For a fraction of a second she let worry seep into her thoughts and briefly contemplated running back to the barracks. The thought went basically unheard, as Tsuna was too enraptured by the boy in front of her to notice the thought. She felt a chunk of her hair being tugged from behind her and felt one of Bertolt's hands rest on her upper left arm. Her face got hot and her heartbeat raced in her chest. She thought to herself how she shouldn't let two guys make her feel this way, that she should be in control of herself and that she should be as unaffected as always by contact from males. Reiner's eyes traveled from her eyes to the section of her hair he held, they followed it like his eyes did previously.

"Your hair is pretty, Tsuna" Reiner said as he looked back to her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something but quickly forgot as she once again found herself captivated by his eyes. Those amber eyes that shouldn't be as breathtaking as they were turning out to be.

"You're very beautiful" Bertolt said. Tsuna stiffened and her eyes widened. She turned to look up at him and realized he _was_ indeed very close to her. She looked up at his green eyes, the ones that looked too good in the moonlight, and instead of seeing deception, she saw gentle sincerity. It frazzled her brain. She realized suddenly things shouldn't be like this. You don't hear that from a guy you just met. Guys you just met don't take you off to an isolated location and get touchy-feely. That's what she thought at least, she was right wasn't she? Or was this a usual thing that she just hadn't experienced. The thought of a story from an unfortunate rape victim she heard once came to mind and she was suddenly scared. Is that what this would end up being? Bertolt noticed the fear in her eyes and leaned down to wrap his arms around her shoulders, resting his next to hers, it looked awfully awkward for someone of his height to embrace someone of her height the way he was. "I'm sorry, don't be afraid. There's no reason to be afraid" he said in a comforting voice. She noticed she was slightly shaking, she was never able to discern if it was from the cold, or from fear.

"What are you afraid of?" Reiner asked from behind her, a worried tone in his voice. He hadn't meant to get so touchy with her, he hadn't even thought about it until Bertolt noticed her fear. He felt bad and hoped she was afraid of something besides them. He didn't know why but he felt protective of her, something about her was different than most people, he was drawn towards her and earlier when she had told them about her sister he felt his heart break a little knowing that she wouldn't have felt that pain if it wasn't for what the two of them did. Tsuna pulled away from Bertolt slightly and just stared at Reiner like he was speaking a different language. She averted her eyes from his with an almost guilty look in them, there was definitely fear on her face too. He gently grabbed her chin and turned it towards him so she couldn't turn away. He gave her an expecting, pointed look. Tsuna tied to turn away but his strong hands kept her in place.

"Tsuna?" Bertolt asked from his place behind her, his voice telling her that he too wanted her to answer. She felt scared and pressured and she briefly wondered if they'd be mad at her for being scared, if they'd hurt her for being scared. She thought back to Bertolt's hug and reassuring words, she had found no malice, do deception in his words, but that could mean that he was just a good liar. Reiner's grip ever so slightly tightening drew her out of her thoughts and back to the waiting eyes and unanswered question. Tsuna squeezed her eyes shut.

"You" she whispered, immediately regretting it. The words had just slipped from her mouth before she could think of a lie, before she could remind herself that they could hurt her. Her eyes were still shut tightly when she felt the grip on her chin slacken then disappear completely. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a shameful, pained expression staining Reiner's handsome features. His eyes were pointed towards the ground, purposely avoiding her own, confused eyes. She turned her head back towards Bertolt and saw that he also looked upset, not at her but at some unknown element. "Why…" they both looked at her somewhat surprised and somewhat anxious "why had you both looked so upset earlier… when I told you about To- about my sister?" She asked and looked at each of them with confusion and fear and determination. "It wasn't like you were just sympathizing and felt sorry… it was different. And you" she turned towards Bertolt "kept apologizing." They both looked at her shocked. For a moment Reiner feared she had found them out but then decided against it because she wasn't trying to rip out their throats or anything like that.

"I- well, it's just… um" Bertolt struggled for words "I know how you feel" he quickly covered for himself, it wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the truth "our friend… our close friend got eaten too, so we know how you must feel" he finished, looking away from her. Reiner thought to himself that that was quick thinking on Bert's part.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Tsuna said, guilt in her voice for bringing up such memories.

"Don't be" Reiner said. Tsuna's attention was on him and she looked more sad now than anything. He felt his heart break a little more, for going along with the half lie and for helping cause the death of her sister.

"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" Reiner put his finger to her lips to shush her. She stopped and looked surprised. Her eyes traveled down to look at his finger the best she could.

"Don't be" he said with a little more force behind his words. Tsuna pulled her head back the best she could from his finger.

"But I shouldn't have-" He pushed his finger back against her lips.

"Tsuna" he gave her a pointed look.

"Don't be sorry Tsuna" Bertolt said from behind her "we shouldn't have put you in a position where you'd be afraid or feel threatened" his voice was kind and it made her feel worse for thinking badly of them. She turned to face him and felt even worse when she saw his caring, comforting smile. She was a pretty sensitive person beneath her sometimes rough and most of the times dorky personality and with all the emotions she'd been put through that night she felt even more delicate. Her eyes began to water and soon her cheeks were tear-stained and soft sobs could be heard from the now crying girl. Reiner and Bertolt looked at each other, neither one was used to dealing with a crying girl, especially one that they had made cry in more ways than one. Tsuna had brought her right arm up to cross over her eyes in a futile attempt at hiding her tears that were actually still quite visible.

"Uhh, it's okay. Don't, um, don't cry" Reiner tried to soothe Tsuna as she wept. He looked towards Bertolt again, pleading for help with his eyes. Bertolt looked uneasy and ironically, he looked somewhat scared of the crying girl, or at least the situation that they found themselves in.

"Yea, Tsuna, its okay. We're sorry, it was our fault, don't be sad." He said slightly rushed like he wasn't sure he was doing it right. He looked around like he had lost something and his eyes lit up the tiniest amount when they landed on her hand. He reached out and took her hand in his, the size difference was laughable. Bertolt's hand easily dwarfed Tsuna's. Tsuna felt Bertolt grab her hand. She felt him rubbing circles on the back of her hand in a comforting manner, Tsuna lowered her arm from her face and looked at him. She sniffled her nose and held back sobs. The sight was quite adorable Bertolt thought and he kinda felt guilty for thinking that her sadness was cute. Reiner still stood there unsure of what to do, obviously Bertolt was better in this situation than he let on because his quiet words of reassurance and simple hand holding seemed to be working. Reiner _wanted_ to give her a hug but he was hesitant because Bertolt hugging her had been what had set her off, or at least that's what it seemed like. He settled with just putting a hand on her shoulder. Tsuna turned towards Reiner when she felt his hand rest on her shoulder, he looked strained but behind that there was worry and she realized he was trying to make her feel better.

"Thank you" she said to both of them. They each smiled in relief and Reiner let out a relieved breath he didn't realize he was holding. Tsuna yawned and Reiner thought to himself that it was one of the cutest things he's seen. Everything about the girl in front of him was cute, she looked innocent and vulnerable and he felt drawn to her. He had this instinctive voice in his conscience telling him to protect her, to make her happy. It was weird for him. The only other person he had feelings like that for was Bertolt. Yes, he and Bertolt were secretly an 'item', both of them were also secretly bisexual _and _both of them just so happened to feel rather attracted to the cutie right in front of him. Of course, they had only just talked to her a little bit ago, but for some reason it felt like, Reiner at least, had known her for years. She was different from normal girls, she was energetic and clumsy and adorable and Reiner realized he might have a bit of a crush on her. Judging by the way Bertolt was acting he was in a similar position. He looked at his secret boyfriend as he was looking at Tsuna and saw the way he looked at her. In a normal situation he would have been jealous, but here, in this situation, he could only empathize. Bertolt was looking at Tsuna with an almost loving look, his eyes held emotions of caring and his actions showed kindness. Normally Bertolt would have been his usual sweating, nervous and anxious self but here with Tsuna and Reiner, he felt at ease.

"Let's go back" Bertolt half said half asked he looked at Reiner to make sure that it was okay and he received a nod of confirmation in return. Bertolt returned his attention to Tsuna. She was looking at him with puffy reddish eyes, she waited a few seconds seeming to contemplate the question.

"Okay" she said with a nod. She was partially disappointed because the place was very beautiful, but she also wanted the comfort of her friends back. The two guys with her weren't bad, and they were definitely easy on the eyes, but they were Hiro or Daniel or Allen. Reiner grabbed her by her arm and pulled her closer to him before picking her up and fixing her so that she was on his back. She blushed and briefly tensed up before relaxing and resting her head on his shoulder. They set off on their way back to the 105th trainees' training grounds. The walk back was mostly uneventful and after a few minutes Tsuna had all but fallen asleep in Reiner's hold. She felt warm and safe, despite her earlier fear she found that both Reiner and Bertolt had managed to make her feel safe and secure. Reiner could see the lights of the training grounds.

"Tsuna" he said softly to get her attention before she fell fully into sleep. Tsuna lifted her head in an attempt to shake off her sleep but without her permission her head slowly fell back to its pillow, or Reiner's shoulder. Bertolt let out a soft laugh from beside the two. He put his hand on Tsuna's shoulder and delicately shook her. She lifted her head again and this time Reiner set her on her feet before she could fall asleep. Tsuna wobbled slightly due to her groggy state before getting her bearings. They continued walking in a comfortable silence until the got to the middle of the main training area.

"TSUNA!" They heard from off to their right. They all turned to look and Tsuna recognized Hiro running up to her before he picked her up in a literal breathtaking hug. He set her down before she could complain and bent down to examine her face. He gasped "Tsuna, were you crying? What happened? Did they hurt you? Are you okay?" He bombarded her with questions, worry written all over his face. Tsuna saw out of the corner of her eye that Connie, Jean and Sasha had followed him. Her heartbeat quickened ever so slightly at the sight of Jean and she felt her face turn red.

"I'm fine Hiro, they didn't do anything bad. Everything's ok" she said and he let out a huge breath of relief. He let go of her shoulders and took a step back.

"That's a relief" he smiled at her. "We were worried about you, after you left we talked for a little bit and tried to find you but you weren't anywhere to be found and then I talked to Daniel because you said you were going to go talk to him and he said he left you with some of the Survey Corps members and he didn't know where you were and he was such an uncaring ass and oh, I'm so glad you're okay Tsu" Hiro had managed to say that all in one breath Tsuna noticed and she gave him a sheepish look for not having told someone where she was going. Then Tsuna realized that he had said '_we_ were worried' and her face blushed at the thought of her new friends, which included Jean, being worried about her. She looked over at said charming guy and saw him glaring at Reiner and Bertolt, she looked towards Reiner and saw him glaring back. She figured they just didn't like each other or something. Hiro had wrapped his arm around her shoulder and began to lead her away. She looked back at Bertolt and Reiner and smiled.

"Goodnight, thanks for the rides" she said enthusiastically as Hiro continued to pull her towards the barracks, before she turned away she saw them smile back at her and they said their own goodnights. As she was pulled out of earshot, she saw that Jean and Connie had started talking to Bertolt and Reiner, but she noted that it didn't look too friendly. She thought to herself that there was definitely something different about Reiner and Bertolt, she just couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly. As she came back to reality she saw that they had walked into the fairly empty barracks. Hiro walked them over to her bunk and gestured for Tsuna to sit down, Tsuna listened and Hiro sat next to her. He seemed to be thinking so Tsuna stayed quiet and waited for him to talk. Hiro looked at her in a devious way and Tsuna was sure that this conversation would end up being about at least one of the guys she was with.

"So Tsu, what didja think about that Jean guy? He seemed pretty nice right?" Tsuna knew he'd say something about a guy but she wasn't expecting it to _not_ be a lecture about going off in the woods on your own with two guys.

"Yea, he was nice. He seems like a good guy." Tsuna said almost skeptically.

"And isn't he a hottie?" Tsuna giggled at the question. "I mean, even you were blushing left and right, huh Tsuna?" This made Tsuna's cheeks brighten a little.

"I-I guess he's alright, I mean I don't really look at guys that-"

"You _didn't_ look at guys like that, before Jean" Hiro corrected. "And if I'm not mistaken you thought those other two, the ones you were walking around with, were good looking too. But let's not worry about that." Hiro said. He had always been observant and it was no surprise he had found Tsuna out.

"Okay, so maybe he's handsome, I don't see why it has to be such a big deal. I hope you know there's a difference between being attracted to somebody and _liking_ them. I don't _like_ the guy or anything, or at least not intimately." Tsuna defended. Hiro smile grew at her words.

"Sweetie, it's a big deal because up until today you haven't even glanced at a guy like that before and now all of a sudden you're making goo-goo eyes at him the whole time we ate together. It was so cute, him trying to catch your eye, him succeeding, you blushing. Typical young love" Hiro gushed with blatant excitement, he was the homosexual hopeless romantic of the group and he was very much enjoying the whole situation. "This could be the early stages of love" He said with a hopeful tone.

"Whoa there. Back up. Hold that thought, forever. _Love_? Hiro, the guy's hot, that doesn't mean I love him. You're taking this out of proportion" Tsuna said almost ready to go find some sane company.

"Listen Tsu, when you find a guy who looks at you like Jean was looking at you that means he's seriously worth considering. I mean did you hear what he said to you? It was so sweet and caring, I _know_ it got your attention." Hiro said and Tsuna thought back to Jean's words about how she should be proud of herself and be true to herself. She gave a slight smile without realizing it, unfortunately Hiro noticed it for her.

"Hah! Look, you're smiling when you think about him!" Hiro said excitedly while pointing towards her now stuttering mouth. "See, there is something special about him." He said happy as could be. "Oh, you two would look so good together, he has that swagger to him and you're all klutzy and shy, it's so complementing!"

"Well, what if I don't like him and I like someone else?" Tsuna said more to be stubborn than to actually ask the question. Hiro looked at her sternly all of a sudden.

"Tsuna, Jean is way better than either of those brutes. I don't want to hear anything about them. Ruggedly handsome aside, they probably aren't even good people." He said indignantly.

"That's not fair" they heard from behind them. They both turned around to see Daniel sprawled out on the bunk next to Tsuna's. "I think that they could be better than that Jean dude. I mean, they were ranked higher than him after graduating." Daniel said matter-of-factly. Hiro stood up and turned to face him.

"What does ranking have to do with being good for Tsuna?" He said defensively.

"They could protect her or something like that" Daniel shrugged, obviously not thinking he needed to justify his reasoning.

"Daniel, you _know_ they're no good for her. Someone like Jean could easily protect her and make her _happy_." He said, his voice was starting to carry a little more than frustration to it.

"I think that they could be good for her." Daniel had sat up by this point, his words also carried a little heat to them. Tsuna sat on her spot on her bed looking between her two arguing friends. "Besides, I think that they care about her."

"They made her cry!" Hiro said in disbelief.

"They didn't mean to, they felt real bad." Daniel said defensively.

"I'm not talking about today." Hiro said with meaning to his words. He gave Daniel a pointed glare and Daniel went to retort but ended up just closing his mouth and looking away from Hiro's glare. Tsuna thought that the two of them were acting really strange. She understood that there was a meaning behind Hiro's words that she didn't know and it made he think that her earlier assumptions were correct about something being weird about Reiner and Bertolt. She didn't know what but she was determined to find out.

"Well, maybe they feel bad about that too" Daniel said more quietly.

"They should! They should feel horrible!" Hiro shot back at him, not relenting his harsh tone. Daniel sighed.

"I still think that they could be good for her." He said before standing and walking off. He pat Tsuna's head as he passed by and offered her a smile, Tsuna noticed that it looked pained. She gave him a caring smile in return and he turned away and walked out of the barracks. Hiro still stood next to her and still looked irate and frustrated. He made a noise of irritation and plopped down next to Tsuna.

"The nerve of him. I swear he's one of the most oblivious, uncaring, most frustrating guys I've ever met. Why am I friends with him?" He ranted more to himself than anything. He threw his hands in the air in defeat. He looked over at Tsuna and gave her a friendly smile. "My point still stands about you and Jean. At least get to know him okay? I seriously think he could make you really happy." Tsuna sighed, more of an act than anything.

"I _guess_ I could at least see where it goes, but I won't promise anything." She said and he let out and excited 'yes' before throwing his arms around her.

"Oh I just know you two will be great together!" He said and Tsuna decided not to mention that he was getting ahead of himself.


	3. Sacrifices

The next day the 105th trainees' squads had martial arts training where they were _supposed_ to practice defending themselves against an opponent with a wooden knife and disarming said opponent. Shadis had been walking around observing but was currently meeting with one of the assistants off to the side of the training area. The Survey corps members were given a choice to participate or to observe from the sidelines, Reiner and Bertolt stood along the fence with a tall freckled girl and they seemed to just be watching. Jean stood with Connie, Sasha and that Historia girl, they looked like they were having an intense conversation with a lot of hand moving and Sasha and Connie getting giddy, and then there was this black haired girl and brown haired boy who were standing around talking to a blond boy who arrived last night after most people had went to bed. They just so happened to be right next to Tsuna and Daniel's group and Hiro and William's group, and not too far away Amy and Allen trained together. Reiner and Bertolt were watching Tsuna and Daniel's group who had yet to start training. Daniel had the wood knife and Tsuna was weaponless but they hadn't moved yet and neither were in a stance suggesting that they would move any time soon. In fact they were sitting down, looking bored and uncaring. Off to the side Shadis was approaching.

"Listen up!" He yelled and all the cadets turned their attention towards him "I've decided that I will grade your martial arts training, so if I were you I wouldn't sit around all day slacking" he gave a suggestive, irritated glance towards Tsuna and Daniel who both looked at him like he had gone insane. "That is all" Shadis said before walking towards the other side of training cadets.

"He did that on purpose didn't he?" Tsuna grumbled out as she stood along with Daniel. They both looked mildly irritated at now actually having to do something.

"I so totally bet he did." Daniel muttered, he and Tsuna stood a few feet apart. "So, wanna be the soldier?" He asked Tsuna.

"Eh, sure" she shrugged. Reiner and Bertolt were still watching Tsuna's group, now out of interest instead of just because Tsuna was in it.

"Don't you think that it's a little unfair that you're paired with someone so much bigger than you?" Reiner asked comically. Tsuna and Daniel turned to look at him. Daniel laughed and Tsuna looked like 'really?' at Reiner.

"Dude, she's short not crippled" he said through his laughter. Tsuna now stood with her hand on her hip looking at Daniel with slight aggravation at being called short.

"Well, size _does_ kinda matter" Bertolt said from next to Reiner who nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't go underestimatin' her if I were you." He said as his laughter finally subsided. He turned back towards Tsuna and got in a ready stance. Tsuna just stood there and looked at him. Without warning he ran at Tsuna with the wood knife in hand. He neared her and swung like he was going to stab her in the gut but before the knife made contact Tsuna grabbed his arm in one hand, his shoulder in the other and rotated her body to the left, redirecting his path towards the ground. Daniel's own inertia worked against him and he flew face first into the ground with an 'oof'. Reiner and Bertolt were now not the only one's watching the pair, Jean's group had begun watching them after they heard Reiner and Bertolt' conversation with Daniel. They all wore expressions of shock and slightly gaped mouths, even Ymir looked slightly impressed. Daniel was grumbling from his position on the ground. He had sat up to now rest on his knees.

"You coulda gone easy on me" he said as he looked over his shoulder to Tsuna.

"Well it's kinda awkward with everyone watching" Tsuna mumbled and offered her hand. Daniel accepted the help and stood up. "Sorry" Tsuna said. Daniel smirked and turned back to Reiner and Bertolt.

"So how about that? You wanna give her a try?" He asked all smug like it was him who just tossed around someone almost twice his weight. Tsuna noted that the way he said that to Reiner could have been taken more than one way but decided he was too dumb to get upset over. "I promise it only hurt a little" he said with a grin plastered on his face.

"No thanks" Reiner said quickly and turned his head away.

"Oh? You scared?" Daniel mocked "it's ok, I understand. It must be hard being scared of a four and a half foot tall girl, bet that really gets your ego doesn't it." Daniel said and turned back towards Tsuna "but like I said, I understand. I'm sure Tsuna does to, even though it may make you look kinda like a wuss." Daniel looked over his shoulder with a huge grin and Reiner turned back towards him and scowled.

"I'm not afraid, I'm just not fond of hurting girls." He said still scowling. He thought to himself if Tsuna's opinion of him _would_ be tarnished if he backed down from a challenge and the thought made him worry ever so slightly. Daniel just shrugged and for some reason that irked Reiner. He sighed, "Fine, I'll try." He walked towards Daniel who had turned back towards him eagerly, offering him the knife without hesitation. Reiner looked at the knife then to Tsuna and asked himself how in the world was he supposed to run at a girl he was sure he liked, and try to jab her with a piece of wood. Then he remembered that she had just threw someone who was just a few inches shorter than him, and just as built, to the ground. He heard Daniel laugh from behind him.

"You sure?" Tsuna asked him, looking like he was crazy "I won't hold back, we're being graded" she said in a warning matter-of-fact tone. He suddenly realized that she was giving him a one-hundred percent, serious warning and briefly wondered if he should be worried but looking at her he could see nothing but fragileness. Her arms were scrawny, through her training attire she looked pretty petite where girls like Mikasa, Ymir and even Historia somewhat, looked relatively sturdy. She was tiny and beautiful and there was _no way_ he could be afraid of her.

"That's fine" Reiner said with confidence now.

"Don't hold back cause she has a pretty face" Daniel said from behind him and before Reiner could argue Tsuna was talking.

"Yea, don't hold back, I don't like that" she said much to his dismay. Even when he was in training himself, he never really went all out. "If you hold back, you're gonna get your ass kicked." She said and he just looked at her regretting his decision to be gulled into this. Never-the-less he got in a halfway ready position and waited a few seconds before charging at Tsuna. She easily dodged his attempt at stabbing her and side stepped only to kick his legs out from under him. He landed face first on the ground.

"Ouch" he grumbled from the ground. He sat back on his butt and held his nose which had taken the blunt of the fall. He heard snickering from behind him and saw that Daniel, Jean and Connie were laughing, and he could only assume it was at him.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" Tsuna said from next to him, genuinely concerned. He was embarrassed that he had been tossed around by someone so small and _now_ they were asking if he was alright. She kneeled down next to him and took his hand in her own and pulled it from his face. She looked to be checking for damage and had unintentionally gotten quite close to his face. He flushed and pulled back so he could stand.

"No, I'm fine." He said standing up "you're a lot better than you look" he said to Tsuna who was still kneeling on the ground. He offered her a hand and she took it and Reiner pulled her to her feet. She smiled at him.

"Well since we're being graded I had no choice. Normally we just sit around or play-" she paused and her eyes got all wide and she turned towards Daniel with extreme excitement. "Daniel! Jousting! Now!" She said and looked like she was ready to explode with excitement.

"Oh yea, I forgot. You sure? I mean we're getting graded." He said sounding kinda bummed out and Tsuna suddenly looked very dejected.

"Oh… that's right… I guess it'll have to wait till some other time." She said with slouched shoulders.

"What's jousting?" Reiner asked, confused. Tsuna turned to look at him.

"Haven't you heard of jousting before?" she asked, looking at him like he just spoke another language. He thought to himself for a second and then remembered something about horses and long pole things.

"Kinda, don't know _exactly_ what it is but I was pretty sure you need horses." He said realizing that there were no horses around here that could be used to joust with.

"Oh, yea. Well since we obviously don't have horses, we use each other instead" Tsuna said as Reiner gave her a 'what the fuck are you talking about' look. "Like, if me and Daniel were jousting partners I would ride on his shoulders. And if we were against Hiro and William" she gestured towards the group a few feet away practicing "then Hiro would probably ride William's shoulder and then it would be like normal jousting except in order to knock someone down, either one of the people on top of the others can use any part of their body instead of a pole." Tsuna explained looking smug.

"Me and Tsuna are an unbeatable team" Daniel said walking up next to Tsuna and wrapping an arm around her neck like he was going to give her a noogy. She started squirming and trying to get away but he tightened his hold as best he could without choking her. She pushed on his back and arm with her hands trying to pull her head out of his grasp but to no avail. Daniel was still looking at Reiner like nothing was going on and Reiner stared at him incredulously.

"Daniel! Let me go!" Tsuna half said, half growled. She was still pushing and pulling and squirming trying to get out of his hold. "I swear I will kick your ass if you don't let go" her voice was strained. Tsuna jumped up and put her feet on Daniel's back and began pushing with her legs, all it ended up doing was possibly stretching out her neck. She let out an irritated 'ugh' sound and dropped her feet back to the ground. She stopped squirming and started pouting.

"You see, the trick to beating her is restraining her. She has some kickass moves but she's too week to do anything when it comes to brute force. Hell, she probably couldn't even lift 50 pounds of something. It's weird, she can do pushups and pull-ups all day but she can't actually lift hardly anything besides herself." Daniel said while he laughed down at Tsuna who was glaring at him as best she could. Suddenly Tsuna stretched out her left leg as far as it could go and then swiftly brought her knee into Daniel's right leg, directly under his butt. Daniel dropped Tsuna and his leg buckled under him, his hands wrapped themselves around his upper leg and he groaned out a few curse words in pain. Tsuna, who was now free, turned her face away from Daniel with a 'hmph'.

"I am not week" she said defensively. Reiner laughed down at Daniel along with Hiro and William who had stopped their training to enjoy watching Daniel get his ass kicked.

"You should have seen that coming" Hiro said as he shook his head in disappointment.

"Yea, didn't you just say not to underestimate Tsuna a few minutes ago?" William said in between laughs. Hiro looked down at Daniel with a smug look on his face and Tsuna thought to herself that he was enjoying this more than usual because of his and Daniel's argument last night.

"Whatever" Daniel said as he turned his head away, obviously embarrassed. Tsuna walked closer to him and offered her hand with a smile. Daniel took it slightly begrudgingly and returned the smile. Tsuna noticed he had a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks and she chuckled at his embarrassment. "Thanks, Tsu. Although, you wouldn't need to help me up off the ground if you didn't knee me in the first place" Daniel whined.

"I wouldn't have kneed you if you hadn't of grabbed me so it's your own fault" she said slightly annoyed. "It's your turn to be the soldier" Tsuna said towards Daniel and she got a noise of discontentment from him in return and he grumbled something about not wanting to do this anymore. Tsuna walked over and picked up the knife from where Reiner had dropped it during his fall. She looked over to Reiner who was a couple feet away and smiled "no hard feelings right?" Reiner blushed from both the girl in front of him and the memory of being beaten by said girl. He rubbed the back of his neck in a sheepish embarrassed way and grinned.

"Right" he said and received another smile before Tsuna turned her attention back to Daniel. Tsuna got in a ready stance with the wood knife in her right hand. She waited a few moments before launching herself forward and running at Daniel. Tsuna pulled her right hand back like she was going to stab Daniel but as she moved it forward she tossed the knife to her left hand. Daniel's left arm moved forward to grab at Tsuna but Tsuna's now empty right hand clutched it and stopped it from advancing on her form. Her left hand swiftly closed the distance between Daniel's neck and the knife, stopping barely a centimeter from his skin. They stood still for a moment before Tsuna brought the knife away from Daniel's neck. Daniel let out a breath he had subconsciously been holding and let his shoulders relax from where they had tensed up. Tsuna grinned proudly and Daniel let out a week chuckle. The Survey corps member who had been watching were more or less impressed. Reiner had already made his way back to Bertolt and had been watching Tsuna and Daniel with slight shock. To both of them, Tsuna honestly didn't seem like she'd be even half as good as she turned out to be, especially since she had been scared of them on their walk the night before.

"She's like a smaller, cuter version of Annie, isn't she?" Reiner said turning to Bertolt who looked back at Reiner.

"She may actually be better than her." Bertolt said as he turned back to look at Tsuna. He thought to himself that someone who looked so sweet and delicate shouldn't be able to fight like that. Reiner was basically full grown and he definitely wasn't small but Tsuna tossed him down like it was nothing, Bertolt was glad that she hadn't decided to lash out at them last night when she had gotten scared.

"I see you didn't argue the cuter part" Reiner said in a suggestive tone as he nudged Bertolt with his elbow. Bertolt got slightly flustered and pink cheeked.

"You already knew that I thought she was pretty" Bertolt said bashfully, avoiding his boyfriend's teasing eyes.

"Yea, but I was sure you had a thing for Annie" Reiner said, Bertolt turned to look at him and saw that his expression had gotten more serious.

"Well, kinda but I saw her more as a friend and comrade than anything else" Bertolt said with a smile and Reiner smiled back.

"Attention!" They all heard Shadis yell from the center area of the training cadets "that's enough martial arts training for today. Go get lunch and await further orders!" Shadis ordered and sighs of relief could be heard sporadically throughout the 105th trainees.

"Man, I can't believe we didn't get to joust today" Tsuna said dejectedly as she walked in between Hiro and Daniel. Allen walked up next to Hiro and grabbed his hand 'discreetly', no one ever really said anything about the gay couple. The one person who had ever said anything ended up with a broken nose and bruised up body. Nobody had to ask to know that it had been Daniel and Tsuna who beat the guy up. Since then there's been a silent threat that any badmouthing would get severely punished so nobody ever dared to say anything to the couple. Not that people really minded anyways, both of them were quite liked by their peers for their friendliness and welcoming personalities.

"How about we see if there's time after lunch and try to joust then" Daniel proposed. Tsuna's eyes lit up and she got all energetic.

"That's a great idea! Let's do it. We'll eat real fast so we for sure have some time." Tsuna said and looked up at her friends for confirmation. Hiro smiled at her eagerness and Daniel and Allen chuckled.

"I don't mind" Allen said from next to his boyfriend.

"Yea, me either, as long as Allen and I are a team" Hiro said as he forsook holding Allen's hand to wrap it around his shoulders. They looked at each other and gave each other loving smiles, Allen's being more shy than Hiro's. Tsuna looked to Daniel expectantly.

"Of course! Didn't I promise you I would last night?" Daniel said and a huge smile plastered itself on Tsuna's face. Daniel grinned at her enthusiasm and happiness. He loved it when she was happy, she had been his friend longer than anyone else and they knew each better than anyone else knew each of them. Tsuna was the only one who truly understood Daniel and Daniel was the only one who fully understood Tsuna. To Daniel, Tsuna was the most important person in the world. At one point during their years together, Daniel had fallen in love with Tsuna but Tsuna was oblivious and never noticed his feelings. After several failed attempts of trying to get her to at least realize his feelings Daniel had decided that he would do the only thing he could do and be the very best friend possible and be there whenever she needed him. After a while he had gotten somewhat used to the unrequited feelings and hid his remaining sorrow behind a flirtatious attitude, always flirting with as many girls as possible even though none of it felt the way he wanted it to. None of those girls were Tsuna, none of them had her luscious white hair or her big blue eyes. None of them had her amazing laugh, none of them gave him shivers with just one touch, and none of them ever would. Because of how he felt, Daniel loved to see Tsuna happy, he lived to see the girl he loved smile and laugh. So of course, no matter how much trouble he could possibly get into, he could never tell Tsuna no when she looked at him so eagerly, so expectantly and therefore, he would make sure Tsuna got to joust. Daniel smiled back at Tsuna, they locked eyes like they do all the time but Tsuna still didn't notice the love in Daniel's eyes. She saw a friend, a best friend who loved her as a _friend_, she saw a guy who went after every girl _but_ her and Daniel was completely fine with that. He was fine with anything as long as Tsuna was happy and safe.

"Yes!" Tsuna basically yelled "you're awesome Dan!" Tsuna said as she threw herself at Daniel and gave him a hug. Tsuna was beaming with happiness, and Daniel was content.

"I know, I'm a super badass. You're so lucky to have me as your friend" Daniel said smugly. Tsuna let go of him and punched his arm lightly, or maybe it was hard to her but it certainly didn't hurt him. She tried to feign a grumpy look. Daniel gently punched her arm as payback and it made Tsuna misstep and almost fall. She lost her grumpy look and went back to smiling like she couldn't be happier.

"_You're_ lucky I'm too happy to argue with you right now" she said before giggling. Daniel chuckled at her and turned to look at Hiro.

"Shouldn't you guys be off strategizing so that maybe you'll stand a chance against me and Tsu?" He mocked his friends. Hiro put his hand that wasn't holding onto Allen up to his heart and gave of noise of hurt.

"Do you really think that little of our teamwork?" Hiro said, his voice dripping with false sorrow. Allen let out a soft chuckle from next to him.

"Maybe he's really just scared and wants us to go away so he doesn't feel threatened anymore" Allen said and gave Daniel a taunting look. Daniel grinned and broke out into a laugh.

"Me? Afraid of you?" Daniel had to stop speaking while he laughed some more "you're funny aren't you Al?" Daniel was bent over slightly holding his stomach giving the couple his signature laugh. Hiro mocked a sad face and Allen chuckled at Daniel's laughter.

"Tonight's show was free but tomorrow you gotta pay" Allen said causing Daniel to laugh even louder, he started to look like a retarded, mute, seal as his laughter went from boisterous to silent shoulder and head shaking. Tears gather in the corners of his eyes and at that point Tsuna had begun laughing as well. Daniel put his left arm over Tsuna's right shoulder to keep himself from falling. Tsuna was laughing hysterically at Daniel's laughing and Daniel was laughing at Tsuna's laughter each of them leaning against each other to support themselves as they became a pile of laughter. Hiro and Allen watched amused, occasionally chuckling at a funny noise from one of their friends. Off to the side they saw Jean, Connie and Sasha approaching. Connie and Sasha looked greatly amused and Jean looked torn between horrified or highly entertained.

"Should we be worried?" Jean asked as he stopped next to Hiro who chuckled at the honesty of the question. Daniel and Tsuna had finally managed to calm down some but at Jean's question laughter burst uncontrollably from their mouths again.

"Nah, this happens sometimes. Just gotta let them get it out of their systems" Hiro's words made Tsuna and Daniel laugh even harder and at that point they both slowly collapsed to the ground. Tsuna was on her hands and knees, or rather one hand and knees because the other hand was clutching her abdomen. Daniel was halfway draped over Tsuna's back, one hand trying to support his weight so he didn't crush Tsuna and the other covering his eyes trying to maintain control of the tears that slipped passed his eyelids.

"This is hilarious" Connie said from next to Jean. He and Sasha had huge ass grins on their faces and you could hear them stifling their laughter. Jean was busy listening to Tsuna's laugh, he thought it was fitting and adorable. She occasionally let out a weird sounding laugh or wheeze as she tried to breathe properly, her mouth was left constantly open and her whole body shook with each laugh. She tried to reach back to push Daniel off of her but her arm bent against him instead of moving him. Jean thought she was beautiful like that, happy and energetic. He thought she was beautiful because she looked alive, not half dead or depressed like most people looked, she wasn't held back or restrained by fear of the titans, she was alive and free and suddenly he saw his own version of Eren's vision of freedom. He understood Eren's want to go outside and be alive and free and _live_, he was never really able to fully picture what it would be like or what Eren wished to gain but now he saw it, he saw it in Tsuna and he was filled with hope and happiness for the first time in a long time. He wanted a life like that, he wanted a world like that, happy and alive and _free_. He let thoughts about a life with the white haired girl fill his mind and he found himself blushing ever so slightly. Tsuna and Daniel finally collapsed completely and their laughter slowly died out. They were left a panting heap on the ground while the others looked on in amusement. Off to the side a ways, the other Survey corps members and even some of the other 105th trainees had been watching the spectacle with mostly humor. Ymir looked amused and annoyed while Historia looked the tiniest bit worried. Reiner and Bertolt had been watching and they smiled and chuckled at Tsuna and Daniel. Reiner thought about how Tsuna's laugh seemed so endearing and innocent and Bertolt thought about how beautiful she looked when she smiled and he laughed at the noises she occasionally made. Tsuna and Daniel finally managed to stand up, each letting out noises of hard breathing and occasional chuckles. Daniel wiped the tears from his eyes and Tsuna dusted herself off.

"Oh man, that was good. You should joke around more often Allen." Daniel said, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

"Whoo, I'm light headed" Tsuna said as she put her arms out to her side to keep her balance.

"You guys ready to go get some food now?" Hiro asked, his happiness could be heard in his voice. Tsuna and Daniel agreed and they started walking towards the mess hall. Hiro, Allen and Daniel walked ahead of Tsuna who was slightly ahead of Jean, Connie and Sasha. Tsuna was still kinda wobbly and light headed and found herself looking for something to hold onto. She found purchase on Jean who had walked up next to her to stabilize her. She grabbed onto his arm like it was a lifeline and smiled up at him.

"Thank you" she said happily. Jean blushed a little and realized that although she was leaning on him with at least half her weight, she was extremely light and he thought for a moment that he could probably pick her up in one arm no problem. He grunted a 'no problem' and turned away from Tsuna to hide his pink cheeks. They walked into the mess hall and over to the food lines. Daniel, Hiro and Allen went to then left line and Jean, Tsuna, Connie and Sasha went to the other. "You guys want to eat with us again today?" Tsuna asked looking up at Jean. She had let go of his arm but she stood close to him because she was still faintly dizzy. She turned and looked at Connie and Sasha too.

"Sure" Connie said happily. Sasha nodded with a smile from next to Connie so Tsuna looked back up to Jean for his answer. He knew before she even finished that the answer was yes. She could have asked him to go dive into a lake from a 30 foot cliff and he would've said yes. There was no way he could say no to that smile and those expecting eyes. He realized that he had fallen for Tsuna quite hard after only a day. Hell, who wouldn't? Even Connie had admitted that she was cute and seemed really fun but he stressed that he didn't like her. Jean thought that he had probably been defending his feelings for Sasha. He wondered how they hadn't become a thing yet, they were both so dorky and sporadic and Jean was pretty sure Sasha liked Connie so he didn't understand why they didn't just hook up already.

"Of course" he said to answer Tsuna's question and he received a gleeful smile in return. Not only did he enjoy eating with Tsuna but he also like her friends, they were interesting and easy going and they were easy to get along with. He remembered how he had felt the same way about Marco and he felt his chest get tight from the repressed sadness he held. He was brought out of his thoughts by a hand on his arm.

"Are you okay?" Tsuna asked from next to him. She was the one touching him, and she looked genuinely concerned. "You were making a sad face…" Tsuna said even more quietly and he shook the rest of his negative feelings aside so he could give her a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine" he said and Tsuna stayed gazing at him a few more seconds before accepting his answer and turning towards the front of the line. He didn't know if she believed the answer or not but he was happy she didn't press the issue, he really didn't want to talk about that right now or ever. After they got their food they followed Tsuna to the table where Connie and Jean had sat with them before. Once again Hiro and Allen were sitting together and so were Amy and William only this time, Daniel sat next to William whereas Daniel hadn't even ate with them before. This time Jean sat next to Hiro and Tsuna sat next to Jean, Connie sat next to Daniel and Sasha sat on Connie's other side. Jean blushed when Tsuna chose to sit next to him and he felt something nudge his arm. He looked over to see Hiro grinning and giving him a thumbs up, this caused Jean to blush more and look down at his food. From next to him, Tsuna grabbed her bread and some vegetables and then once again pushed her other food towards the middle of the table. Today there was some sort of roast with carrots, potatoes and green beans. Jean looked over at Tsuna and thought about how she had said she didn't eat meat. It was endearing and awe-inspiring that she was able to fully dedicate herself to something like that. The fact that she valued life so much that she refused to contribute to the deaths of animals was impressive and it showed just how innocent she really was. She cared, even about things that others found miniscule, things that others only used and took advantage of. He found himself enraptured by her innocence, by her liveliness and free spirit. He also found himself staring at her with a small smile on his face when she happened to look up at him. His embarrassment of getting caught staring brought him out of his trance and he looked back at his food. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sasha eyeing the food Tsuna hadn't eaten.

"Uh, you going to eat that?" Sasha asked and Jean could've sworn she was drooling. There wasn't much meat, mostly vegetables or broth but any meat was still meat to Sasha. Tsuna looked over to Sasha.

"No" Tsuna said softly.

"She doesn't eat that kinda stuff so leave her alone about it" Jean said trying to get Sasha to shut up. He remembered how embarrassed Tsuna had been and he didn't want to see her ashamed of herself again. He hadn't liked that look of self-depreciation in her eyes, she was something to be proud of and nobody should ever tell her otherwise.

"Huh?! What? Why not?" Sasha seemed shocked that someone would willingly give up their food. "The meat is so tender and tasty. I wonder what it's from. Aww, I want to go hunting now." Sasha said dejectedly. "I wonder if I could get a boar, or some bird" Sasha rambled about all the different things she could hunt.

"Oi, Sasha, be quiet" Jean snapped, he was worried that Sasha talking about hunting might make Tsuna sad and he really didn't want Tsuna to be sad. Sasha ignored his comment, seeming to be in a land of her own where she had all sorts of game to hunt and kill.

"What about some deer- oh! Venison would be so good!" There was a clank heard from next to Jean and he turned to look. Tsuna had dropped her fork and was staring wide eyed at Sasha like she just killed a baby. Tsuna's eyes started to water and soon there were tears streaking down her face. Jean looked shocked, he didn't know what to say or do to get her to stop crying. Across from Tsuna Sasha was going on about smoked venison and how good it would taste. Tsuna's eyes were glued to Sasha like she was a monster, tears overflowed from her eyes and her lip quivered. Jean turned angrily towards Sasha.

"Sasha! Shut up!" Jean basically yelled at said girl. Sasha stopped her rant and looked at Jean angrily for bringing her out of her fantasy meat world. Now that Sasha wasn't blabbering Jean could hear soft sniffles coming from Tsuna. At that point, everyone at the table had saw what was going on. Connie gave Sasha a scowl as she looked around confused and Hiro leaned forward over the table to look at Tsuna past Jean, he was wearing a worried expression. Daniel, William and Amy didn't know what happened so they looked on anxious and confused. Allen was glaring at Sasha and Sasha was looking at Tsuna like she was crazy. Daniel had been about to ask what happened but Hiro silently shushed him with a finger against his lips. Hiro wanted to see what Jean would do, if he was good for Tsuna or not. He was going to use this opportunity to test the guy and see if he was worthy of his friend. Jean didn't pay attention to anyone but Tsuna, he looked at her and gently grabbed her by her chin and turned her to face him, and to stop looking at Sasha. "Tsuna, are you okay?" Jean asked Tsuna quietly. Tsuna stared at him with wet cheeks from her tears and occasional sniffling or quiet sobbing. Their eyes locked and for the first time, Tsuna noticed someone's affection for her. She didn't know what it meant or what it stemmed from, but she saw and felt the care and concern, the affection, from Jean. She shook her head no and threw her arms around his middle and hid her face in his chest. From behind Jean, Hiro smiled slightly at the sight and decided that Jean may be good for Tsuna after all. It took Jean a second to react but he quickly pulled Tsuna tight against his chest and began stoking her hair. _ I think girls are supposed to like this_ he thought to himself, unsure of whether he was comforting Tsuna or just annoying her. He figured he must be doing something right because she hugged him tighter and nuzzled his chest with her head. "It's okay" he whispered against the top of her head where he was resting his own head, he kept saying quiet words of reassurance to her. Slowly but surely Tsuna's shoulders stopped shaking and the sobbing was no longer heard. Tsuna rested against him a few more moments before pulling away and wiping her eyes. Jean noticed there were tear marks on his shirt but it didn't matter to him, he was relieved that he had actually been able to get to stop crying. He looked at her happily a few more seconds before turning to give Sasha a pissed off look.

"What?" Sasha asked like Jean had no right to be glaring at her.

"'What'?!" Jean copied Sasha incredulously "what do you mean 'what'? Are you kidding me? _Your_ dumbass made her cry!" Jean all but yelled at Sasha.

"How did _I_ make her cry?" Sasha asked defensively, she gestured towards Tsuna at 'her'.

"You and your talk about hunting!" Jean said through clenched teeth "Can't you think about something besides your stomach for once?" Tsuna was staring across the table at Sasha, a horrified expression on her face.

"What are you talking about Jean?" Sasha's tone was bored, she talked like Jean was wasting her time. Jean felt his anger grow at Sasha's lack of concern. Next to him Tsuna had averted her gaze downward

"Are you serious?" Jean roughly brought his closed fist onto the table top. At that, Tsuna quickly stood up and ran towards the mess hall entrance. She held a hand up to her eyes to hide her tears. Almost everyone had stopped what they were doing and watched as Tsuna sprinted for the door. "Tsuna!" Jean called out but Tsuna didn't stop, didn't look back. She ran forward and out the entrance. She turned to head towards the barracks when she suddenly felt like she hit a wall. Before she knew it she was flying backwards and hand landed heavily on her rear. She looked up and blinked the tears out of her eyes to see what she ran into. She was shocked to see the legs of a person. Her eyes followed the legs up to their body and then to the person's head. She let out a gas as she met Bertolt's eyes. Bertolt looked down at Tsuna in surprise, he had been turned around talking to Reiner when he felt someone run into his back, he hadn't expected that someone to be Tsuna. He noticed she was crying and went to ask her what was wrong.

"Sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Tsuna was interrupted as a sob escaped from her mouth. More tears spilled down her face and she returned her arm to its spot over her eyes. "I'm sorry" Tsuna said again quietly, her voice shaking from her crying. She couldn't bring herself to look at Bertolt, she couldn't move her arm from her face. All she could do was cry, she didn't know why she was crying so hard. The whole time that Sasha had been talking about hunting Tsuna had gotten more and more sad and upset, but when Sasha mentioned venison Tsuna couldn't take it. How could someone hurt a baby? Even though it wasn't a human it was still a baby, it had feelings, it got scared, it did all the things humans did just in different ways. It broke Tsuna's heart hearing someone talk so casually about death, didn't life mean anything to Sasha? Bertolt looked down at Tsuna with a worried expression.

"Tsuna, it's okay. What's wrong?" He crouched down and hesitantly placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Tsuna couldn't stop crying, all she could think about was how sad it was that people killed things so needlessly, so selfishly. Reiner walked up next to Bertolt and looked at Tsuna with concern.

"Tsuna, what happened?" Reiner asked gently, not wanting to upset her more but wanting to know what happened so that maybe he could comfort her. At Reiner's question Tsuna let out a cry, she brought her knees up to her chest and covered her eyes with both hands. Reiner and Bertolt looked at each other, troubled and confused expressions plastered on their faces.

"Tsuna" Bertolt said gently "please tell us what-"

"Oh! Tsuna! There you are." Sasha said as she came running out of the building. Bertolt felt Tsuna tense up from where he still had his hand on her shoulder. Sasha slowed down as she neared the trio, stopping a couple feet behind Tsuna. "Listen Tsuna, I'm sorry I upset you. Jean and Connie told me how you feel about that kinda stuff. I didn't know that there were people who felt that way. I wanted to apologize and try to explain to you that people don't hunt to hurt animals, usually people do it to feed themselves and their families or sometimes for game. Don't worry though, most of the times the animals die fast and they don't even see it coming" Sasha explained with a smile "it's not like people intentionally hurt the animals, or at least normal people don't. I'm sorry though, I shoulda noticed that you were uncomfortable when I started talking about it" Sasha finished, she looked pleased with herself and wore a small smile. Tsuna took her hands from her face and turned to face Sasha from her spot on the ground.

"Let me ask you something," Tsuna said looking up to Sasha with a serious expression, tears still covered her cheeks "do you like it when the titans eat humans?" Tsuna's voice was quiet and severe. Sasha's eyes widened at the meaning of her words.

"I don't think that's the-" Sasha wasn't able to finish.

"Do you like it when titans eat humans?!" Tsuna had raised her voice and now bore an angry look. Sasha's eyes widened and her eyebrows pulled together. She was quiet for a good ten to fifteen second before she answered.

"No." Sasha's voice was quiet and cautious. Tsuna's look got angrier and her teeth ground together.

"Then how could you do the same thing to all those poor animals?" Tsuna said, her glare unrelenting.

"It's not the same though, humans-"

"How isn't it the same?!" Tsuna shouted angrily "titans eat humans because they can, because humans are weaker! Titans hunt humans to eat! They don't feel bad, they just do. Adults, teens, babies! They don't care. They prey on humans, they eat them, they kill them for their own selfish wants! How is that no different from you?! How is that no different from you killing a baby dear for its meat?! For its taste?! You think that those animals want to die? Do you think they don't feel pain or sorrow?! They cry like humans! They run from people like you like humans run from titans! How is it not the same?!" Tsuna had stood up and was yelling at Sasha, tears leaking from her hate filled eyes and running down her cheeks. She had thrown her arms out to her side and stood there waiting for an answer. Sasha had a shocked expression in her face, as did Reiner and Bertolt along with Jean and Connie who had followed Sasha outside. Sasha stared at Tsuna a few more seconds before looking at the ground. Her eyes were wide as realization set in. She couldn't say anything to that. She had never once thought of things that way, she had only ever saw the hunt and her prey. Now that she thought about Tsuna's words she was scared. _Is that how the titans feel? Is that how they see us? _She asked herself. Humans were just prey to titans, titans didn't care if you were old or young, screaming and crying, they only cared about eating humans. While every once and a while Sasha felt bad for her prey, it never stopped her from killing and eating that prey. Was she really just like the titans? Were humans really that horrible? She slowly looked back at Tsuna who was still waiting for her answer. The atmosphere was thick. Nobody said anything. Tsuna's eyes were filled with an abundance of overwhelming emotions and Sasha let her eyes drop again. "Well?!" Tsuna spoke harshly.

"That's enough Tsuna!" Hiro had walked up to Tsuna and grabbed her arm to turn Tsuna to face him "just stop okay" Hiro said, meeting Tsuna's heated gaze with an equally tempered one. Tsuna jerked her arm from his hand.

"It's not okay! Don't you dare tell me to stop! Either be there for me or get out of my way _friend_" At Tsuna's words, Hiro's expression was torn between angered and pained. Tsuna turned back to Sasha with a venomous expression "So? Tell me how you're different, tell me how you're less of a _killer_ than the titans!"

"Tsuna! I said enough" Tsuna was about to rebuttal but Hiro's hand across her face silenced her. Tsuna's head was turned to the side by the force of the slap. Her eyes got wide and the anger in them was replaced with hurt and sadness. Her left cheek slowly reddened where Hiro's hand had connected to her face. She slowly raised a hand to cover the mark, trying to ease the sting. Daniel ran up to Hiro and pushed him roughly, Hiro staggered back.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Daniel yelled at Hiro, grabbing his uniform's front and pulling him close. Tsuna couldn't watch, she couldn't move, all she could do was stand there holding her cheek. Hiro just slapped her, she couldn't comprehend it, she couldn't believe it. Her friend, one of her best friends, had just slapped her. She knew why, she shouldn't have said all those things, she remembered Hiro said he wouldn't allow her to say such things anymore, but she couldn't believe he actually did that. She never thought he would act on his threat, she never thought he would betray her like that.

"You know exactly what I'm doing! Don't act like its okay for her to say those things! You know she had to be stopped" Daniel gritted his teeth together at Hiro's words and pulled him closer. "What if Shadis had come back? What if one of the other officers heard her?! What then?"

"So you slapped her?! There are tons of other ways to get someone to be quiet! You could have just covered her mouth, shoved some bread in it! Hell, you even could have pinched her or something! But _slap_ her? Are you fucking kidding me?!" Daniel was pissed, how dare Hiro slap her. He knew Hiro's reasons, he knew Tsuna had needed to shut up, but he _never_ would have slapped her. Daniel raised his fist ready to punch Hiro but Allen came from behind and grabbed his arm before he could connect to Hiro's face. "How dare you" Daniel said quietly, not a soft or gentle quiet, but a quiet that spoke louder than any shout or yell. Hiro's angry and defensive gaze suddenly got softer as realization set in. He had slapped his best friend, the most important person in his life besides Allen. He looked over at Tsuna who was now buried in Bertolt's chest. He could see her shoulders shaking, her wide eyes spilling tears, hand covering her cheek. At that moment he hated himself, he thoroughly hated himself for what he did. Daniel threw him to the ground and Allen rushed over to his side but Hiro didn't notice him, all he could see was Tsuna. He hurt her, he made her cry. He knew how she felt and he supported her, his goal hadn't been to tell her she was wrong, it was to stop her before someone important heard. If someone heard her talking about how humans were just as bad as titans she could have gotten in serious trouble. Some people would consider it treason. He had been so worried and scared for her that he acted without thinking. Daniel gave him one last look of rage before walking to Bertolt who was still hugging Tsuna. "Tsuna" Daniel said gently and before he had time to react, Tsuna had pulled away from Bertolt and rushed into his chest. She gripped at Daniel's uniform and nuzzled into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her shaking shoulders and held her tightly. He kissed the top of her head. "Go lie down, I'll make up something to tell Shadis okay?" he said as he softly pushed at her shoulders to look at her face. He couldn't believe Hiro, sure Tsuna should know better but _slapping_ her? And now, looking at her tear stained face Daniel felt his heart break. He should have been there to protect her, to stop Hiro. He looked over at Hiro and saw that he was crying, Allen was trying to comfort him while looking over at Tsuna every few seconds obviously torn between being there for his boyfriend and being there for his wronged friend, his best friend. Everybody in their group had one thing in common, they all loved Tsuna in some way. For Hiro and Allen it was friendly love, but for Daniel it was more. Sure Hiro and Allen cared about Tsuna, they each said that she was the most important person in their life, but since they had fallen in love with each other Daniel knew that wasn't true anymore, and so did they. Daniel was the only one who stilled cared more about Tsuna than anyone else, he cared more about her than he did himself. Tsuna nodded up at him and tried wiping her tears away but they were quickly replaced. Daniel looked over to Bertolt and Reiner "Will you guys go with her?" Daniel asked them.

"Yeah" Reiner said as he walked closer to Tsuna who had grabbed onto Daniel's shirt at his question. He didn't look down at her, he just picked her up and handed her to Reiner. He refused to look, he know what he would see, her eyes pleading for him to stay by her, for him not to leave her. He couldn't answer that plea, he never could, because he didn't want his feelings to slip out. He couldn't let them resurface, it would only make things worse, so for now, he had to be strong and let someone else be there for her. Seeing the girl he loved cry her heart out made him ache, it made his chest twist in agony and he wanted to answer that plea but if he did it would hurt their friendship, it would make things worse in the long run because he knew that things wouldn't be the same if she knew. And now that she was finally noticing things like affection and feelings like that, he couldn't risk letting his own feelings slip out from the mask he had made. So he watched as Reiner carried her away, he was someone better suited for Tsuna. Yea, he was a horrible person, but he was a horrible person who was strong, who would be able to protect Tsuna and that was all that mattered to Daniel. He knew that someone like that Jean guy could make Tsuna happier than Bertolt or Reiner, but Jean wasn't as strong as them, he didn't have the same powers that they did. If titans ever overran wall Rose, Reiner and Bertolt could protect Tsuna better than Jean and that's why he wanted her to choose them. He had already talked to them about Tsuna when they came back from their walk last night. He had been able to tell that they liked her and he had also been able tell that they were the same monsters who had cause thousands of people's deaths.

He had asked them what their intentions were. They tried acting like they didn't know what he meant but he was having none of that.

"What would people like you want with someone like her?" he had asked them "do you realize that she would hate you if she found out what you were?" They had looked shocked.

"How do you know-" Daniel had cut Reiner off.

"Answer my questions and I might answer yours." He said seriously. Bertolt and Reiner had looked at each other for a few seconds before Reiner told Daniel that they had no intentions of hurting her and that their intentions were just as they seemed, they were drawn to the girl and liked her. They planned on hiding their secret from her for as long as possible which would hopefully be forever. Then Daniel asked what they had to offer Tsuna that the 'undercut kid' didn't. Bertolt had answered almost right away.

"We can protect her. Even if she figures out that we are who we are and hates us, we could protect her. Even if titans somehow got inside the wall, we could save her" Daniel understood what he meant, while Reiner and Bertolt may not break anymore gates, there was still the beast titan and possibly many other threats. Daniel knew his words were true, he knew that people like them, ruthless murderers with enormous strength, could protect Tsuna better than anyone else could.

"The question is, _would_ you? Would her protect her with your lives? Would you protect her if it meant you had to kill more people? Would you be able to sacrifice your humanity to save her just like you did when you killed a piece of her?" Daniel asked in all seriousness. The answer didn't come as quick as the last, it was thought out and deliberate. Reiner met Daniel's hard gaze with equal resolve.

"Of course"

"Even if she fought you, if she hated you and cursed you?"

"She wouldn't be the first" Reiner said solemnly.

"That doesn't answer the question" Daniel said, he needed straight answers, he needed to make sure that Tsuna would be safe, no matter what.

"Even if she tried to kill us, we'd make sure she was safe." Reiner said and next to him Bertolt nodded in agreement, his eyes also filled with determination.

"Well, I don't know what your reasons are, or why you've taken to her so fast, but as long as you can protect her and be there for her that's all I care about." Daniel had said and then went to check on Tsuna and that's when he had argued with Hiro about Reiner and Bertolt being better than Jean. It was hard for him, he knew that Jean would make her happier, that Tsuna could truly love someone like Jean, but he was willing to overlook that to guarantee her safety. If the time ever came where Tsuna really would need protected, he would let Bertolt and Reiner protect her and if he could, he would make sure that he would be there to keep her happy if need be. He may not ever get to be with Tsuna, but that would never stop him from being there for her or doing his best to protect her.


	4. Forgiveness

Sorry this chapter took so long, I let my brother borrow my laptop and he ended up turning it off before I could save the chapter. So I ended up having to redo most of it and I decided to cut it short because it wasn't flowing like it had before. Hope it's still decent, I was really frustrated with having to rewrite it because things are never as good as the original... Enjoy :)

Reiner had carried Tsuna to the barracks, at first she had resisted and insisted she stay with Daniel but after a few seconds of struggling she had all but went limp in Reiner's hold. Once they had gotten inside Tsuna had wiggled her way from Reiner's grasp and jumped face first onto her bed, burring her head under her pillow. The two boys watched her lay there and cry, her shoulders shook and although her sobs were muffled they were still audible. They weren't sure how to deal with her so they ended up sitting on the bed next to hers, watching her cry. Bertolt wasn't sure what it was about the girl that he was attracted to, not physically because she was obviously pretty, but in general he didn't know why he was so taken by her. He loved Reiner, he never once thought he'd need anyone else, he never once thought of a polyamorous life, but as soon as he had saw Tsuna he felt a need to be close to her. He had gotten flustered, Reiner had noticed and, after Levi and Shadis had left, he approached Bertolt asking what was bothering him. Bertolt was afraid that his boyfriend would be hurt by his feelings but he found out that Reiner was in the same boat as he was and had also been worried about hurting Bertolt's feelings. Bertolt was even more upset about his feelings now that he knew Tsuna had been affected by what he and Reiner had done in Shiganshina. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his head towards Reiner who was giving him a small, love filled smile. It made Bertolt relax, it reminded him that everything would be okay as long as he had Reiner. He returned the smile and placed his own hand and Reiner's leg. Reiner looked towards Tsuna who had gotten quieter as she calmed down. She pushed herself up with her hands and the pillow fell off her head. She stayed there on her hands and knees, thinking about what had just happened, she didn't resent Hiro, she resented herself. Hiro had warned her several times that talking like that around others wasn't safe, but she let herself get worked up and ignored his warnings. What if Shadis or some other officer _had_ heard her? She could have been arrested and locked up, she could have been executed. She balled up the bed sheet in her fist and girt her teeth. She didn't know if she should be mad at _Hiro_ for going too far and hurting her, if she should be mad at _herself_ for speaking out of term, or if she should be mad at Daniel for not staying with her. He was always there for her when nobody else was, they had each other's backs, it was like an unspoken law between them yet he had pushed her away. He handed her off like she meant nothing. Sure Reiner and Bertolt were okay, they were nice and nice looking but they weren't very comforting. Hell, if he was going to hand her off to some random guys she would have preferred Jean and Connie. They were nice and funny but more importantly, Jean's presence was reassuring. He put her at ease while Reiner and Bertolt's presence made her tense up slightly. It wasn't that she didn't like them, they seemed nice and all but there was something off about them. She couldn't name it, but she was sure that there was something to be cautious of. She found herself glancing over towards them, they were talking amongst themselves, something about their Survey corps squad, but Tsuna wasn't paying attention. She was trying to find what made them seem _off_.

_Maybe it's their ethnicity… nah, they look fairly normal. Is it their height? Maybe I'm just intimidated… no, I don't think that's it, I look up at practically everybody. I don't think it has to do with their physical appearances, something about _them_ in general, their presence, is weird. It's like every time I'm around them, my instincts start screaming at me, I get this urge to run, it's spooky. And their eyes are like endless pools filled with some off putting emotion. Like when I looked them in the eye for the first time, after noticing how nice they looked, there was something in them that made me feel like prey. Their eyes are predatory, it's like looking a hungry wolf in the eyes when you're lost and unarmed in the forest._ Tsuna thought to herself as she stared at the two. At first glance the two of them looked like normal handsome teens but at some point during their walk the night before Tsuna had found that their presence, especially Reiner's, was more intimidating than it should have been. Not only that, but they had acted strangely about certain things, and then there was Hiro and Daniel's argument before bed. While she really wanted to know what was _off_ about the two of them, she figured that if Daniel trusted them to be all alone with her then there was no reason to worry at the moment. She realized that she had distracted herself from her sorrow and anger and figured she was okay to get back to training, thankfully their lunch time hadn't quite ended so Daniel wouldn't have to risk trouble by covering for her absence. Reiner and Bertolt were brought out of their conversation by Tsuna standing up, Reiner readied himself to grab her but she spoke before he could.

"I'm fine, I want to get back before Shadis does so I'm going now." Their following looks of disbelief told her that they didn't buy it. "Really, I'm fine. I know Dan asked you to watch me, but I'm not a child and I've had time to calm down." Reiner was relieved because he really didn't want to end up having to try and stop her and end up on his face again.

"Alright, if you insist" Reiner said as he put his hands up in surrender. Tsuna gave them a small smile before walking back to the mess hall. As she walked in she noticed that Daniel was sitting at their normal table with Amy, Jean, Connie and Sasha. Unsurprisingly Hiro and Allen weren't there but what was surprising is that Tsuna saw William sitting at a table further back along with Hiro and Allen. He and Amy _always_ sat together and walked around together but William was with Hiro and Amy was with Daniel. Tsuna walked towards her normal table where Daniel, Amy and the Survey corps members were. Daniel noticed her first and looked equal parts happy and distressed. Tsuna walked up to Sasha who was sitting across from Daniel at the end seat of the table. Sasha looked up at her wearily, expecting more hostility. Tsuna looked down at her with an unreadable, somewhat harsh face before her expression turned soft and more friendly.

"I'm sorry for blowing up at you like that, I shouldn't take my anger out on you" Tsuna said looking somewhat sheepish "while it does upset me, you have every right to live your life the way you want to and I'm in no position to question that. I hate it when people get on me about _not_ hunting or eating meat so I shouldn't get on you about hunting or eating what you like." Tsuna's expression had turned unhappy, but it was obvious she was unhappy with herself and not Sasha.

"It's okay, I should have paid attention. I felt really bad after Jean and Connie told me how you felt. It's me who should apologize." Sasha said looking as sheepish as Tsuna had. "I think it's cool that you're able to be different for something you believe in" Sasha finished with a friendly smile.

"But I said some things to you that I shouldn't have and for that I truly am sorry, I had no right to project my feelings onto you like that" Tsuna said still looking disappointed in herself.

"No, I'm glad you did, I never really thought about anything like that but since you said it, I realized that I should at least be more grateful and appreciative of the lives I take. I don't want to be some mindless killer like the titans, so I'm going to be thankful for every animal that dies in order to feed me" Sasha said and Tsuna had to look up from the floor to double check for honesty and she found it.

"Yea, I think it wouldn't hurt to appreciate life a little more" Connie said from next to Sasha. Tsuna's gaze snapped towards him at his words. "I always looked at meat and saw meat. I never thought about how it used to be living, it was always about what it tasted like but now I feel like I should be aware of the value of what I'm eating instead of just the taste" Connie noticed Tsuna's overjoyed expression and blushed out of embarrassment of his sentimental words "or something like that" he tried to cover up his embarrassment with off handed words but it only made Tsuna smile more.

"That's amazing you guys" Tsuna said, beaming with happiness. Sasha and Connie grinned back at her. Tsuna looked over at Daniel who was smiling solemnly.

"You're something else Tsu" He said and her smile was replaced by a look of confusion. Her head tilted to the side ever so slightly but Daniel shrugged her curiosity to the side. She figured he wouldn't explain himself so she just sighed and didn't bother. Tsuna looked around for the table that Hiro was at and saw him a few tables behind them to the left of the walkway whereas their regular table was on the right.

"I'll be right back" she said before she started walking towards Hiro who was facing away from her. As she approached him William, who was across the table from Allen who was next to Hiro, looked up causing Hiro and Allen to look back at her as well. Hiro's face lit up with shock and a variety of self-loathing emotions and he averted his gaze to the floor instead of meeting Tsuna's own. "Hello" Tsuna said more as an ice breaker than an actual greeting.

"Hi" Hiro said simply as he turned back to the table, Tsuna walked to William's side and sat down so she was across from Hiro. Her eyes stayed locked on him the whole time and he guiltily looked everywhere but the space she occupied. Allen and William kept looking between Hiro and Tsuna, there was tangible tension in the air, mostly from Hiro. Hiro had his hands balled into tight fists, resting on the table top. His eyes were trying to glare holes through said hands and if it was possible, he would have succeeded. His whole aura screamed self-hate and it was very clear that he was upset with himself. Tsuna reached over and gently grabbed one of his fists in her hand. His head snapped up and his eyes got wide with shock. His mouth hung open and Tsuna had to tell herself not to giggle at his response, instead she offered him a friendly, reassuring smile.

"Thank you" Tsuna said softly and Hiro's eyes got even wider. He was not only surprised at her words, but at the purity of them. No matter how he tried to twist her words, there was no denying that they were genuine, she was really thanking him. Tsuna saw his confusion and disbelief and elaborated, "If you hadn't stopped me, I could have been in serious trouble. Sure it wasn't the best or nicest way to get the job done, and it did hurt both physically and internally," Hiro looked away and cringed at those words "and I really did resent you for a few moments" Hiro's fist tightened "but I know you didn't do it out of hate or spite, you were only trying to protect me and for that, I'm thankful." Tsuna finished. Hiro was looking so far down that his eyes were covered or shadowed by his shaggy blond hair. He was quiet for a few moments before he spoke

"You shouldn't be, I'm so sorry Tsu!" Hiro and clenched his fists again, still not meeting Tsuna's gaze.

"I thought it was pretty clear I'd already forgiven you" Tsuna's tone was gentle and content. Hiro ripped his fist from her hand and finally looked up. Tsuna saw rage and more self-loathing along with tears flowing from Hiro's eyes.

"No! It's not okay, I'm horrible and you shouldn't even be talking to me! I slapped you! Do yourself a favor and walk away, don't talk to me ever-" a sound resembling wimpy thunder was heard from around Tsuna and William. William's eyes were wide with shock and Tsuna was glaring at him.

"Don't ever tell me to walk away from a friend!" Tsuna managed through clenched teeth. Hiro lifted his hand to his cheek to rub of the sting. "If it wasn't okay before it is now, we're even." Hiro's hand stayed on his cheek but a smile crept onto his face.

"If you say so" Hiro mumbled, trying to play it cool but he was obviously happy. Tsuna's slap barely hurt, but like Tsuna had said it made them even. If Tsuna wanted by-gones to be by-gones then who was he to tell her no. "I'm going to go back to Dan and them now so don't go sulking again" Tsuna gave Hiro another smile and walked back to her other friends. When she approached the table she could her snickering from several people. Irritation crossed her features when she realized they had been eavesdropping. She stopped to stand next to Daniel.

"'_No it's not okay_'" Daniel tried his best to match Hiro's voice as he mocked him with a chuckle. Tsuna whacked him on the back of the head and he gave a sheepish look. "Sorry, couldn't help myself" he said holding back more laughter.

"So Amy," Amy redirected her attention from her boyfriend a few tables away to Tsuna "why aren't you with Will?"

"Uh, well we are having a disagreement." Amy had started with no confidence but by the end of her sentence she had her arms crossed and her head held up like she was proud.

"Over what?" Tsuna said, now casually leaning against Daniel's back. Daniel didn't mind at all, not only did she hardly weigh anything but he couldn't care less about what she did to him.

"Well he thought that Hiro slapping you was okay but I think it was totally uncalled for" She said as she sent a glare towards William who had been looking her way. He flinched and ducked his head to the side to get away from Amy's scrutinizing glare.

"Yea, so the people who were mad at Hiro stayed here and he was banished" Daniel said haughtily.

"Banished?" Tsuna asked in an exasperated tone. Daniel only chuckled in response.

"Amy, go over to your boyfriend. This is ridiculous." Tsuna said feigning anger but the smile creeping onto her lips gave her away. Amy smiled back and nodded as she quick-walked over to William who greeted her with a huge grin and bear hug.

"Tch, gross" Daniel mumbled and Tsuna heard.

"Whoa, what crawled up your ass?" Tsuna asked with a nudge to Daniel's back. Of course Daniel wanted to say he was jealous that William had the girl he liked but he, on the other hand, had been hardcore friend-zoned for years by Tsuna, but there was no way in hell that was coming out of his mouth so he settled for nudging Tsuna back, resulting in Tsuna loosing balance and having to grab Daniel's shirt to stay vertical, and giving a week apology which turned in to laughter at Tsuna's would-be fall.

"Here," Daniel said as he held out a small loaf of bread for Tsuna "you didn't eat anything, and I don't think you have enough time to get your own, so I saved this for you." Tsuna grabbed them bread with a huge smile, excitement shone through her eyes.

"You're the best Daniel!" She said around the bread as she stuffed her face. She had been really hungry but she had figured she'd just have to suck it up. As Tsuna hastily finished off the loaf, Daniel offered her a cup full of an unknown liquid. Tsuna grabbed it and drank it without looking to see what it was. _Uck water,_ the plain flavorless taste gave it away. Still, she chugged it all down and wiped the excess off her lips. Daniel chuckled at her eagerness and Tsuna went to glare at him but as she looked up she realized Jean was still there sitting next to Daniel. He looked upset and Tsuna worried he was upset at her because of the things she had said. She walked behind Daniel and then cautiously behind Jean until she came to the seat Amy had been at, next to Jean. Tsuna sat down all the while eying Jean to make sure he didn't show any signs of annoyance. Tsuna was torn between being relieved and upset when he didn't even seem to notice her. She folded her hands neatly in front of her, her eyes not once leaving the side of Jean's face. Suddenly he turned his head towards her and their gazes met. Tsuna hastily turned away as she had been staring and her face blushed.

"Can I ask you something?" Jean said and Tsuna met his intense gaze again. She was once again enraptures by his looks.

"Sure-"

"Attention!" Shadis had returned and was now standing in the doorway of the mess hall. Daniel groaned and Tsuna gave Jean an apologetic look. "Today's training will be on ODM, you will be graded and today's results will be used to help decide graduation placement. You have 10 minutes to suit up and be ready" Shadis finished and turned to walk out.

"Ask me tonight, after training okay?" Tsuna said to Jean as she walked off, turning so she stayed facing him and had to walk backwards.

"Yea" He said, standing and looking like he wanted to say more but Tsuna had already turned and was walking off with Daniel. Jean settled with joining Sasha and Connie as they also left the mess hall. The two were talking about something but Jean couldn't hear what over his thoughts. Tsuna skipped towards the Barracks so she could get her gear and uniform, Daniel kept pace with her short legs at a somewhat fast walk. They saw Hiro and Allen walking a few steps ahead and Tsuna decided she would join them. Daniel, somewhat reluctantly, followed Tsuna and ended up next to Hiro who avoided looking his way.

"Don't be so uptight" Daniel said with a friendly nudge to Hiro's shoulder "if Tsuna said its okay, then I have no reason to hold a grudge for her." Hiro let out a breath at Daniel's words and offered him a small smile. Daniel chuckled and nudged his shoulder again. Tsuna smiled to herself, happy that her friends were getting along and that Daniel had been mature enough to make peace. The four of them made their way to the barracks and got ready before heading out to the main training grounds where most of their fellow 105 trainees were waiting. After a couple more minutes the rest of the trainees had gathered and Shadis lead them off to the forest where they were going to practice ODM. Tsuna noticed that the Survey corps members were walking next to Shadis, who was riding his horse. She decided she would go walk with them since Daniel, Allen and Hiro were busy arguing about who was best at ODM. Daniel insisted that Tsuna and he were better than Hiro and Allen, and Hiro was insisting that he and his boyfriend were better than Daniel. Tsuna snickered internally at the fact that Hiro only said they were better than Daniel, and apparently Daniel noticed too because he started whining and pouting about it. She headed over to the Survey corps members and before she could catch up to Jean and Connie, a blonde boy turned and smiled at her.

"You must be Tsuna" He said and Tsuna almost looked around her before remembering she was Tsuna and the boy was talking to her.

"Uh, yea, I'm her" she replied somewhat confused. "Who're you?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Armin" he said gesturing to himself and Tsuna noticed that the boy and girl that were with Armin this morning were still with him. "And this is Eren" he gestured to the dark haired boy who offered a smile and wave "and Mikasa" Armin gestured further over towards the girl. Tsuna decided that she was pretty and looked relatively tough. The girl offered a nod and small smile.

"Hello" Tsuna said with a wave and smile. She thought to herself that it was weird that he knew her name before ever talking to her. It's possible that Jean, Connie, Sasha or maybe even Reiner or Bertolt had told her but they had been mostly in vision range the past two days and Tsuna hadn't really seen too much mingling between Reiner and Bertolt, besides with the freckled girl, and the blond boy had only gotten here late last night so it couldn't have been Jean and them considering that they were asleep when he had gotten here and they had been with Tsuna or her friends the entire day so far.

"We heard some people talking about you and they said you were pretty good at ODM. Shadis had also mentioned there was a girl here who might beat Mikasa's score and we figured it was you." He said somewhat excitedly, a smile on his face the whole time.

"Me? I don't think so. I'm not that good" Tsuna said waving her hand in the air as to swat the idea out of their heads. "I'm better in the classroom, I've heard of you too" she said to Armin "apparently you're a genius." She had heard about him but she didn't know that _this_ blond boy was him. The 104th trainees' squad had a few outstanding pupils that the 105 members heard about every so often. It was kinda like a mockery, a challenge that the officers put out there to push the 105 to be better. Whether or not they actually _could_ be better was a different question.

"Well that's what they say" Armin said embarrassingly. Tsuna noted that he must have relatively low self-confidence.

"Well, it was nice meeting you guys" Tsuna gave them another wave, Armin waved back, Eren gave her a grin and Mikasa nodded again before Tsuna walked ahead towards Jean and Connie. She didn't think they had noticed them yet so she got an idea. She started walking more sneakily behind them. Sasha turned back towards her in a stretch and she blinked at Tsuna who put her finger to her lips in a 'shh' way. Sasha nodded with a grin and turned around. Thankfully neither of the other two had noticed her. Sasha was on the right, Connie in the middle and Jean was on the left. Tsuna picked up her pace, still trying to be as sneaky as possible, before she lunged forward and grabbed onto the sides of her victim. The scream quickly turned into laughter and Connie tried turning around as best he could to see the culprit of the sneak attack. Jean had nearly jumped out of his pants and Sasha burst into laughter. Tsuna continued gently squeezing Connie's sides as he tried desperately to get her to stop. Tsuna did stop when she saw tears of laughter, or possibly from the torture, form in his eyes. He took a step away from her and started panting. Sasha was still laughing when she walked up to Tsuna, giving her a high-five and 'nice one'. Tsuna chuckled. Connie turned to look at her and gave her a thumbs up.

"Whoo. That was a good one. I'll make sure to get you back" he said with a grin. Tsuna laughed at that.

"You're welcome to try" She challenged. Connie grinned and Tsuna had about two seconds to think before she felt hands on her own sides. She tried to hold down the laughter and keep a straight face but laughter quickly spewed from her mouth she threw her head back and pulled at the hands torturing her sides. She heard a chuckle from behind her that she was pretty sure belonged to Jean. "Okay, okay! I give!" she said trying to get him to stop but to no avail. She gripped onto his forearms and started kicking. He easily supported her weight and continued the torture. "Okay, I get it" she said in between laughter "stop, stop" more laughter "okay, please" more uncontrollable laughter. The torture continued a few seconds longer before the tickling stopped and Jean's hands only held her in place where she had jumped in an attempt to get away. Connie had his hands on his knees laughing and Sasha wasn't far from a similar state. Behind her she heard Jean chuckling before she felt her feet touch the ground. "That was cruel" she turned to pout at him but instead of looking ashamed he just laughed. Tsuna turned away to hide her grin.

"That's what you get miss '_you're welcome to try_'" Connie said before bursting into laughter again.

"You didn't even get me back, that was Jean" Tsuna said with a huff.

"That was teamwork" Connie said and when he saw Tsuna's glare he only laughed more. Tsuna gave him a 'whatever' and started walking again. The other's easily caught up to her and her short legs, Connie and Sasha letting out small chuckles every once and a while. Tsuna felt a small throb in her sides, she thought to herself that they may bruise and decided she would check up on it after training. She noticed that Jean was staring at her with a dorky grin on his face and she gave him an inquisitive look.

"Your laugh" he started and Tsuna was expecting some kind of diss "is really cute." Well there's a shocker. Tsuna blushed at his bluntness and looked at the ground.

"Th-thank you" she said shyly. Tsuna decided that while his comment was unexpected, it was much better than what she anticipated. Jean's grin grew at Tsuna's words and he thought it was endearing that she got embarrassed so easily, and he thought it was a plus because he liked seeing her blush. Tsuna realized that Hiro's request about giving Jean a chance was going to be a lot easier to fulfill than expected because Jean was quite likeable. He was handsome and kind and seemed to have a decent sense of humor, she found him easy to be around and she really enjoyed his presence. Neither of them noticed Sasha and Connie slowing down and giggling, whispering things like 'cute couple' and 'go get her'. Jean and Tsuna had become quiet, Jean was trying to think of something to say but nothing seems right. He let out a small sigh of frustration and nervousness. Tsuna on the other hand was internally freaking out about 'he thinks I'm weird' and thinking out the possible ways she could end up becoming more weird and making things awkward.

"So, uh, I guess we get to see if you're as good as people say you are." Jean finally said, internally cursing himself for being lame. Tsuna was startled out of her panic. "Since you're being graded and all it's not like you could fake sucking."

"Oh, yea I guess not. Don't set your standards too high though" she gave a nervous chuckle. Jean smiled at her adorable awkwardness. A few moments later, Shadis stopped the group and started listing off groups of trainees. This way, instead of _all_ of the trainees going at once, groups of ten or so students would be tested at a time. Tsuna suddenly became nervous, normally she would be just fine with tests or training but more than one of the Survey corps members has been very blunt about their interest in her skills and she was pretty sure that that meant that there would be more than just instructors focusing their attention on her. If she messed up, there would be even _more_ people there to see it and at least one of those people would be Jean and she didn't want to mess up in front of him for some reason. She sighed and prepared herself for the worst as she stood next to Jean waiting to be assigned to a group.


	5. A Prodigy

Sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes or spelling errors, this wasn't proof read as good as it could have been because I really wanted to get it up today. Let me know of you catch anything and I'll fix it.  
I know I'm a horrible person for taking two months to get this up, I guess life (mostly school) just kinda happened.  
*I may use this as my senior project story so any constructive criticism is welcomed*, well either way I welcome constructive criticism.  
Enjoy :3

PS: The next update should be a lot sooner than this last one because I now have to write this for school, which is part of the reason I chose this story instead of a new one. Thanks for reading guys!

Tsuna ended up in a group with Daniel, Allen, Amy, Mason, these guys named Tanner and Gumpert, and this girl named Sierra. Hiro and William were grouped with other cadets. The Survey corps members were invited to watch the cadets, they stood with Shadis on a platform that was positioned so that Shadis could see most of the decoy titans and easily grade the trainees. That meant that the Survey corps members could also easily see the cadet's performances, which meant that Tsuna, who's group was second, was more nervous than before, thanks to Jean pointing out that he'd be watching for her. The first group had already started and most of the decoys had been taken out, which meant that group two would start after the padding on the decoys was quickly replaced by the helping officers. Daniel looked over to Tsuna who was practically vibrating with anticipation and he chuckled. Tsuna was shaken from her worries as she felt a firm pat to her shoulder and heard Daniel chuckling.

"Whoa, would you look at that! Tsuna's nervous? Is it cause there's gonna be some cute guys watchin' you?" Tsuna's blush affirmed Daniel's point and made him laugh more. "Don't worry, I know you think you suck but you'll do fine ok?" He gave her a serious but gentle smile, reassuring his best friend. "Even if they think you suck, you'll still have me, Amy and the guys" Tsuna gave Daniel a smile and nod at his words of encouragement. He always managed to make her feel right if she ever felt wrong.

"Yea, and if that Jean dude doesn't like you because you do badly then you can do better than him anyways. But honestly I don't think it'll come to that, so don't worry Tsuna" Amy said from Tsuna's right.

"Thanks you guys" Tsuna offered them both a smile. She thought to herself that they were right and that she should calm down, which she did just in time for her group's turn.

"Group two, ready up" Shadis hollered, a couple trees over from Shadis' grading platform was a platform where groups waited when they were next for an assignment or grading, Tsuna's group currently waited there while the last few adjustments were made on the dummy titans. The platform where the waiting cadets stood was lower than the grading platform and hardly had a view of the section of forest meant for training, this way the cadets couldn't cheat and look for the dummies ahead of time. The group spread out along the platform, Daniel was farthest left with Tsuna next to him. Allen was on Tsuna's right and Amy on his right. Next to her was Mason and then Gumpert, Tanner then Sierra. They were awaiting the go signal from Shadis. Tsuna felt her nerves working up again but she told herself to calm down and everything will be okay. In Tsuna's group there were eight people and spread out in the section of forest in front of them there were twenty dummy titans. The cadets were graded on their handling of the ODM, the amount of 'kills' they got, how well they 'killed' the dummies and things like individual and team performance. Tsuna glanced over to the platform where Shadis and the Survey corps members stood as she awaited the signal. She focused forward and readied herself, once he said go she would run the few steps to the edge of the platform and jump, using her ODM to catch her and carry her wherever need be.

"Ready… Go!" Shadis yelled and the cadets were off. Tsuna's feet carried her to the edge of the platform and beyond. Her finger squeezed the trigger that sent her gear's wires into unsuspecting trees. The gas propelled her forwards and before she knew it she felt air whipping past her face. She took a few brief moments to enjoy the feeling of flight before increasing her gas flow and racing to the front of the group. Her instincts told her to take a left so she rotated her weight in the full-body belt and took off. She easily maneuvered between trees as she spotted the first titan dummy. Somewhere far behind her she heard another cadet chasing after her, maybe to steal her kills or go ahead, she didn't know or care. As she let inertia carry her decent and gas push her forward, she neared her target. She adjusted her weight in the harness and her blades in her hands, getting herself to the optimum position for taking out her target. In a matter of seconds she had closed the gap between the dummy titan and herself, she pushed her left leg down and rotated her body so she could spin her blades through the faux flesh of the dummy titan's neck. A large chunk of stiff foam-like material fell to the ground as Tsuna escaped the scene in search of her next victim. Her search didn't last long as she saw two uncut dummies about 100 meters ahead of her. She noticed another trainee off to her side a few meters, she didn't look to see who because it didn't matter. Friend or not, this was a competition and Tsuna refused to loose. She slightly increased her output of gas and used her weight to swing her forward faster when she went into decent. The distance between her and her pursuer increased as the unknown trainee was unable to keep up with Tsuna without using too much gas. Tsuna made it to the targets first with ease and positioned herself in the air so if she performed her 'kills' correctly she would get both dummies on one decent. She was a bit higher than the 'heads' of the dummies as she prepared herself to swing down and take out the targets. She easily made the first kill, loping off a huge chunk of the neck. She shot one of her wires into the padding on the second dummies neck to guide herself towards the kill. Using her weight she executed a backflip midair right as she passed over the second dummies neck. Mid-backflip she managed to slice through the mock flesh and secure her third kill before once again leaving the area in search of yet another 'kill'.

Back at the grading platform, Jean noted it hadn't even been thirty seconds before Tsuna had gotten her first kill. He also noted that she was the most beautiful person to ever use ODM. Her movements were graceful and precise, she looked at peace and for a moment right after her group had started Jean swore he saw her smile. She was fast, she outpaced the other cadets and Jean had no idea how because from what he could tell Tsuna's gas output was hardly more than any of the other 105th trainees. He stared in awe at her beauty and grace and even more so at her deadly accuracy. The other cadets _were_ wrong when they said Tsuna was good because she was amazingly talented at using the ODM gear. Jean thought to himself that she may in fact be better than Mikasa even _now_ after half a year's experience. Across the platform from Jean stood Bertolt and Reiner. As Tsuna made her second and third kills, both boys stood amazed, enraptured and somewhat scared. They were completely taken by her form and perfect aerial performance. Bertolt's ever riled up nerves were seemingly calmed by watching Tsuna, who was also calm and at peace in the air. Even though she was partaking in a simulation of an attack of the titans, she was stoic and beautiful. Bertolt cheesily thought to himself that with her fair skin and white hair, Tsuna looked like an angel but then he suddenly realized that she could very easily be the most terrifying angel he'd ever see. Reiner also found Tsuna to be quite a sight and noted that she easily outpaced the others in her group. At that point she had taken out four of the twenty dummies. Reiner didn't know how many were left or how many the other trainees had gotten, he couldn't stop staring at her. Like Bertolt, the realization of how horrible her skill might turn out to be set in. If she ever found out that Bertolt and he were actually the Armored and Colossal titans then she may end up doing more damage than one raging Mikasa, and that they may in fact actually lose their heads one day. Both boys hoped to any omnipotent being that she never found out. Back at Jean's side of the platform Connie had approached said boy and stood with a grin on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.

"She's even scarier than Mikasa huh? Kinda ironic that all the chicks you're into are super badass and shit when you're just kinda there," Connie chuckled and Jean, half serious half not, punched Connie's upper arm, "kidding, kidding. Jeeze, don't be such a girl, I mean you should know you aren't that bad. You did place 6th and all."

"One of these days you're going to get your ass kicked, you know that?" Jean said with a smirk on his face.

"That's future me's problem. But seriously, she's pretty freaking good- look at that! Kill five and it hasn't even been five minutes. Did you see the way she stole that one from whoever that was?!" Connie was all excited, like it was the girl he liked out there doing badass things. Jean chuckled at both Connie's excitement and the way it looked like the guy Tsuna kill-stole from was pretty upset while Tsuna was off giving not a fuck.

"Yea, she's something else" Jean said in a distracted tone. He was completely taken by the girl and failed to notice that he was daydreaming about her in the middle of a conversation with none other than only-observant-when-it-sucks-for-you Connie.

"You've got it bad" Connie said then laughed. "Why don't you just tell her? What's the worst that could happen? I mean sure you'd get rejected but it's not like it hasn't happened before!" Connie cracked himself up. After a few moments of continuous death stare from Jean, Connie collected himself and wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Connie's right you know" Sasha said as she stepped forward to stand with the two of them. "Besides, I think you may have a chance. Like earlier, when she came to walk with us, she didn't bust out the moves on your ass for touching her or anything" Jean gave her a 'that's-not-convincing' look, he received a giggle in return. "Seriously though, like Connie said, you already had the worst of luck with Mikasa so you really don't have anything to loose, no offense" Sasha smiled at Jean and he wasn't quite sure he should listen to the two of them. His thoughts were interrupted after a few moments by Shadis hollering for group two to come back and report to the grading platform. It only took about a minute or two for all the trainees to gather in front of Shadis.

"Sierra" Shadis call to the girl who was first in the lineup, she responded with a solute and 'yes sir'. "What is your kill count?" Obviously Shadis already knew the answer but this way he could make sure that the cadets were honest.

"One, sir" Shadis wrote something on a paper on his clipboard and moved down to the next person.

"Gumpert, kill count?"

"Three, sir" The Sierra girl next to Gumpert lowered her head ever so slightly in shame. The others looked unsurprised. Looking back on it, Reiner remembered some of the few times he wasn't watching Tsuna or talking to Bertolt he had been observing the other members. The Sierra chick and that other boy didn't seem too good and Amy had been alright, maybe she would barely make it to number ten, but he hadn't seen the other cadets yet so he wouldn't bet any money on it. Allen had done okay, better than the previous three, more likely to be top ten than Amy, but the other four trainees were definitely on another level. The Gumpert guy was agile and quick, Reiner would guess he was only second in the group to Tsuna, at least in the agility department. He was definitely top ten material if not top five. That sketchy Mason dude was kinda like Reiner, maybe slightly faster or more agile, and would most likely rank in a similar position. Daniel's performance was pretty good itself, Reiner would bet money that Daniel would end up in the top five. But Tsuna was one piece of work, it looked like she had made the deepest cuts, most kills and was the fastest most refined cadet probably out of the whole 105th squad.

"Tanner, kill count?"

"One, sir" The kid looked and sounded disappointed.

"Allen?"

"Two, sir" Allen's face was neutral, no signs of disappointment or excitement.

"Amy?" The routine continued.

"One, sir" Amy sounded sad and sorry like she was apologizing for her lack of kills. Tsuna sent a sympathetic look her way and received a small half-smile in return. Shadis continued down the line to Daniel.

"Daniel?"

"Two, sir." Like Allen, Daniel showed no signs of disappointment and looked to be somewhat proud.

"Mason?"

"Four, sir." Mason was obviously proud of himself. When he noticed Daniel looking at him he donned a haughty smirk and received a scoff in return. Daniel leaned closer to Mason.

"Don't forget whose next" he whispered somewhat harshly. Shadis gave them both glares, silencing any rebuttal, before writing something down and moving on to Tsuna.

"Tsuna?"

"Six, sir" Tsuna said with a grin. She heard Mason make a huffing noise from next to her and something about a 'lousy brat'. Tsuna turned toward him and stuck out her tongue, earning her a glare and gritted teeth from the Raven-haired boy. Mason would have given her an earful if it wasn't for Shadis standing a few feet from the both of them, so he settled for a seething glare. Elsewhere looks of envy, amazement, and surprise were being directed towards the white haired girl. Many of the Survey Corps members had thought that the rumors about Tsuna were just that, rumors. She didn't give off an air of significance or skill that others like Mikasa and Annie had. She was small in stature, even more so that Krista, and seemed too care-free to be that accomplished. Tsuna's performance had surprised the previous 104th members just as much as past shows of expertise had surprised Tsuna's own peers in the 105th. No matter how many times Tsuna came out top-of-class or out preformed her fellow cadets, she never let it get to her head. In actuality, Tsuna was very self-conscious and had relatively low self-esteem, hence the reason she always denied it when others tried to brag for her. She felt all the pairs of eyes watching her and ever so slightly tucked her head down and crossed her right arm over her abdomen. She was awoken from her stupor of insecurity by a jab to her arm from none other than Daniel. Daniel always made a point of cheering Tsuna up when she undermined herself or felt overwhelmed. He gave her a big, cheesy, grin full of teeth and Tsuna allowed herself to smile back at him.

"Alright," Shadis' voice brought both cadets back to reality, "group is excused. Group three ready up!" Tsuna and her fellow cadet's used their gear to leave the platform to join the already finished group one and the awaiting groups in the forestry around the main platform. Gumpert, Sierra and Tanner headed towards the forest floor, Tsuna, Daniel, Amy and Allen headed towards Hiro and William. Mason found an empty tree to lounge on in solitude, all the while sending discreet glares towards Tsuna and the others, but mostly Tsuna. Hiro noticed Mason's glares and presented a mischievous smirk before turning back to his friends.

"Hey Tsuna," Hiro said softly as he nudged her with his elbow. She redirected her attention from the enthusiastic conversation Daniel, William and Allen were having about who the most agile of the group was. "Don't look now but Masons trying to burn a hole in the back of your head." Despite Hiro's warning, Tsuna almost turned to said gloomy boy but Hiro nudged her before she had a chance.

"Tch. What of it?" Tsuna grumbled and Hiro had to hold back a laugh. _She really is too cute sometimes_, Hiro thought to himself, he had long ago accepted her sometimes brash behavior as endearing when he realized it was her way of hiding her insecurities or embarrassment.

"I think he totally digs you," Tsuna went to open her mouth in rebuttal but Hiro cut her off, "ah ah- before you say anything just listen." Tsuna scrutinized him for a second before reluctantly agreeing. "I don't have any reason for thinking so, but don't you think he gives you a lot of attention? I mean he's always picking little fights with you or teasing you about things but when other people say things about you he just tells them to shut up."

"That's just because he's a gloomy, sore, looser and he hates that I'm better than him." Tsuna said matter-of-factly. "And who _else_ talks about me?" Tsuna said with a slight threatening tone. Hiro chuckled.

"Well, you know that Sierra does, and usually it's Tanner that listens to her blab about you so I would imagine he says things too, but mostly just her. Besides that I'm pretty sure everybody else likes you."

"Well Mason tells her to shut up because he can't stand her, no one can besides that wuss Tanner and that Gumpert kid. Actually, Mason tells almost everyone to shut up if they annoy him so I'm pretty sure you're just wrong. Why are you paying him so much attention anyways? You got the hots for him or something?"

"Huh?! No way Tsuna! You know the only guy I like is Allen" Hiro was exasperated, Tsuna chuckled at his overreaction.

"I know," she playfully punched his arm, "I was teasing you dork." They both grinned at each other and returned to the conversation that had changed from 'who was the best' to 'who don't you like the most', maybe they had heard part of Hiro and Tsuna's conversation about Sierra or Mason. After about half an hour, group three having finished and group four lining up. Tsuna was immersed in a dispute with William, about whether agility or strength was better when fighting titans, when Gumpert joined them on the spare platform they were lounging on. Tsuna, Hiro and Daniel turned to acknowledge him while Amy continued the argument against her boyfriend, and now Allen, in place of Tsuna.

"Hello." Gumpert greeted the three in front of him with a perfectly pleasant smile and a slight wave of his hand.

"Hey" Tsuna greeted, a friendly but distant smile on her face. Hiro just smiled and nodded in greeting, and Daniel just eyed Gumpert like he was bothering him.

"You did really well today Tsuna," Gumpert said, his voice oozing amiability and praise.

"Thank you" Tsuna said, unsureness present in both her voice and her posture. Gumpert's smile widened. Gumpert was a tall, handsome young man with golden blond hair and blue eyes too match. His complexion was perfect and some would say he's comparable to an angel. He was known amongst the majority of the 105th girls as the most handsome boy of their year. He was continuously nice and kind, he almost always had a smile on his face, showing off his perfectly straight and white teeth. Tsuna thought that the other girls made too much fuss over him, yea he was pretty attractive but she found something wrong with a person _always_ being happy. He was too perfect and she wasn't sure what to make of him.

"Of course. Oh! And Hiro you were quite good today too, you two are always pretty impressive." Gumpert said with his ever-present smile. Daniel crossed his arms across his broad chest, he was giving off an intimidating aura and Tsuna noticed he was slightly glaring at the perfect boy. Said perfect boy also noticed Daniel's gruffness and his smile dropped momentarily before he collected himself. "Ah! We mustn't forget Daniel now, you always give me a run for my money don't you?" Gumpert said, a slight undertone of unpleasantness had found its way into his voice. Daniel merely intensified his glare but Gumpert ignored him and faced Tsuna again.

"You're really quite shy aren't you?" He spoke with a charming tone, Tsuna found herself blushing from being put on the spot like that and from having been caught in her timidity. Gumpert suppressed a friendly chuckle. Tsuna noticed and ducked her head to hide her red cheeks and embarrassment. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. You're humbleness is surprising, albeit most likeable. You wouldn't imagine that the best-of-class was unaware of their own skill." Tsuna met his gaze when he mentioned best of class.

"I don't think that I'm _that_ good. I mean, there's you and Mason and Daniel…" Tsuna trailed off when Gumpert gave her a half-heartedly stern look.

"You shouldn't cut yourself short like that, you always have the best scores and even Shadis has commended your skill."

"I guess so" Tsuna said, still unconfident in herself. Gumpert stood there smiling at Tsuna for a few seconds before looking surprised.

"Oh! That's right. I wanted to ask if you'd like to eat dinner with me tonight. It's just we're always in the same groups but I don't feel like I know you very well. Of course you're welcome to decline, but you'd really make a boy happy if you say you will." Gumpert seemed excited and his smile was more genuine than usual. Tsuna noted the last sentence he added in there and felt obligated to agree, she didn't want to offend the guy, and besides what was she supposed to say? 'Oh sorry, you're a little creepy and over joyous so I don't think I want to talk to you'? That would be rude.

"Well, I supposed I can"

"Wonderful! Let's meet up at the entrance then?" Tsuna nodded her head at his words. "Alright, it was nice talking to you guys" Gumpert offered Hiro and Daniel a smile before turning to go rejoin whoever he was with before. Tsuna starred after him, more in thought and confusion than interest in Gumpert. She was knocked out of her stupor by a light smack to the back of her head.

"What were you thinking agreeing to dinner with someone like him?" Daniel chided Tsuna like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie bowl. She rubbed the back of her head and shot a glare his way.

"Honestly I agree, despite his looks and charm something isn't quite right about that boy." Hiro chimed in and received a nod from Daniel.

"Well if you two thought that then you should have intervened instead of just standing there" Tsuna crossed her arms in defense and gave a small pout.

"You should really have dinner with Jean, he was totally into you when you were being tested. He could hardly take his eyes off of you!" Hiro gushed. Tsuna heard Daniel make a 'pfft' noise and she knew he had rolled his eyes like Hiro was a complete idiot. Hiro just shot him a quick sneer in return. She decided to ignore both boys in favor of discovering what the other's conversation had morphed into. After another forty minutes or so the remaining groups had finished their tests and everybody was ordered to return to the main camp on foot. Tsuna disliked running quite a bit but when Daniel and William challenged her to a race she readily agreed. The three of them were the first of the cadets to make it back, Tsuna having won the race gloated while the other two caught their breath.

"You should have known better than to challenge _me_ to a race." Tsuna's voice oozed pride and smugness.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." William breathed out as he playfully ruffled her white hair.

"Yeah, hush up kid" Daniel said with a laugh as he too mess up her hair. Tsuna had to comb her fingers through it and try to tame the mess they made. It didn't take too long for the others to arrive. Allen greeted Tsuna with a grin and a high-five, knowing that she had won as usual.

"I heard you got yourself a date with Gumpert tonight" Allen nudged her in a suggestive way.

"Huh? Hiro told you that?" Tsuna shook her head, "it's not like that, he just asked if I'd have dinner with him. It's nothing special, if anything I'll probably end up having to listen to that Sierra all night as she hangs off his arm like a lost puppy." Allen laughed at Tsuna's remark. It was most likely true. "I don't even think he likes her, I'm pretty sure he's even rejected her, so I don't understand why she has to be so annoying and clingy. Doesn't she realize that Tanner totally digs her, I mean he'd probably jump of a cliff if she asked him to."

"Well, have fun with your 'it's-not-a-date' date, I guess. Can't believe you're ditching us for that pretty boy. I hope he hasn't won you over too." Allen's joking tone told Tsuna that he was kidding around but she still found the idea somewhat off-putting.

"Not a chance, don't be stupid Allen… you're too smart for that." By that time Shadis had made it back and ordered everyone to prepare for classes before handing things over the classroom instructors. Tsuna enjoyed class time but she found it rather dull compared to physical training. She had to admit she probably seemed most at home behind a desk compared to out on the training field, her small stature was to thanks for that. Tsuna was one of the top of class along with Amy, Allen, Mason and a few other classmates. Amy had herself seated at top of class academics, surprisingly followed by Mason. Another boy named Colin was third, Tsuna came up fourth and Allen had managed to grab onto the fifth spot. Tsuna sat next to Colin during class time. Her shenanigans with Daniel, Hiro and Allen had gotten their class assigned seats and as such they were all seated as far away from each other as possible. Since Tsuna and Daniel caused the most mischief they ended up on complete opposite sides of the room, much to Daniel's extreme disappointment. He actually had to sit next to this girl named Meg, one of Sierra's friends, and she was just about as bad as Sierra was. During their first bit of time as cadets Meg had been pretty adamant about being all over Daniel. Every day she would try to sit with him during class, she would try to partner up with him at training and would always cling to him during their free time. He really just found it bothersome and tiring, she was quite bland compared to Tsuna. He ended up telling her that he didn't like her and that she was wasting her efforts. He had actually worried that having Meg around constantly would dissuade Tsuna from returning is long-time feelings for her… he eventually realized that, either way, Tsuna was one of the most oblivious girls _ever_, and that Meg wouldn't deter anything from happening. Tsuna just hated the way that Meg was _always_ trying to get between Tsuna and her best friend. Daniel was Tsuna's and _not_ Meg's and that was how things were going to stay. Meg could get her own best friend.

"This is so boring" Tsuna mumbled under her breath, startling a slight 'eep' noise out of Colin who had been focused on the lecture about the history of people inside the walls. He eyed Tsuna out of the corner of his eye like she was going to eat him. Colin was a pretty timid boy. He was spooked easily, especially around Tsuna it seemed. When she confronted him about it, Tsuna found out that it wasn't so much _her_ that Colin was afraid of but rather her intimidating friends that she liked to hang around, namely Daniel. Tsuna thought that it was funny but she understood where the boy came from, Daniel could be overbearing sometimes. She figured it didn't help that he was in a squad with both Daniel and Tsuna, among other people.

"I kinda like it" Colin whispered, so quietly that Tsuna almost didn't hear him. She looked over at him and noticed that he had the smallest of smiles on his face. He realized that Tsuna had actually noticed him and he turned away in embarrassment.

"I'd rather learn about things before the walls, y'know?" Tsuna figured she'd at least try to hold a conversation with the guy. Colin looked at her like she just murdered someone.

"Wh-what are you saying?! If someone hears you they'll take you away…" His voice squeaked as he tried to quietly freak out.

"I know, I know" she tried to calm him down. "But seriously just think about it, I bet the world is amazing beyond the walls. There would be so many new things to see and learn about." Tsuna found herself bearing her own small smile, charmed at the idea of a world unexplored by her generation.

"Well, I guess it would be pretty interesting, but you really shouldn't keep talking about those things. You always say things that could get you into real trouble." Colin tried his best to chide Tsuna, but she found him a little less than convincing as he shifted every which way and kept glancing around.

"So you do pay attention to the things I say" Tsuna said with a grin. Colin jumped in his seat and turned red.

"W-w-well, um, I, uh, i-it's hard not to when you're always being so loud… and we are in a squad together you know…" Tsuna's grin widened at his embarrassment.

"Nothing wrong with listening to my wise words of wisdom." Tsuna practically reeked of self-confidence, a smirk at home on her lips and thumb jabbed towards her own chest. Colin offered the tiniest of chuckles, feeding Tsuna's simper and ego.

"You know wisdom means for something to be wise, so I don't see why you needed to add that in there…" Colin quietly retorted. Tsuna turned and gasped, holding her chest in mock hurt.

"_Colin_" she said incredulously, "I never thought the day would come, but here it is. You're a regular smart-aleck. Bet you think you're _soo_ smart, dontcha?" Colin bared his own teeth in a grin.

"Well, I _am_ one spot above you in class." This earned him a noogie from Tsuna.

"Oh come on, you beat me by _three points_ Colin. We might as well be tied for third kid" Tsuna was happy that Colin was willing to poke his head out of his shell today. She liked talking to him, it just usually didn't happen.

"Actually Tsuna, I think I'm older than you, so I don't think you can call me kid." Colin said somewhat nervously, he didn't want Tsuna to think he was trying to be mean. He would hate to make her mad, she'd probably have Daniel kill him if he made her mad. When he looked over at Tsuna he found a small look of astonishment adorning her features.

"No kidding? How old're you?" Tsuna said.

"Uh, well, I turn seventeen in just a couple months…" Colin looked away with flushed cheeks when Tsuna's jaw dropped. She nudged his arm.

"Get out!" she waited a few seconds to see if he might've been playing a trick on her but when all he did was blush harder she let out a heavily exaggerated sigh. "That would make you probably one of the oldest in the whole class- no scratch that- the whole 105th. I only know like ten people who're seventeen and most of my friends are barely sixteen." Tsuna said as she gave a slight pout.

"Are you sixteen?" Colin asked with sincere curiosity, bringing Tsuna out of her thoughts.

"Hm? Oh me? Nah, not yet. I will be soon though. My birthday is in two months!" It was obvious that Tsuna was excited, Colin couldn't help but smile. "Totally wouldn't have pegged you as almost seventeen."

"Yea, I get that a lot" Colin said sheepishly, embarrassment evident on his face.

"I don't mean it in a bad way, I think you're a cool guy, you just don't seem like a seventeen year old." Tsuna reassured her senior classmate.

"Thank you" Colin said with a smile, relieved to find out that Tsuna actually did like him and wasn't waiting for the right time to hurt him or worse. The lesson being taught long forgotten in favor of the friendly conversation that both Tsuna and Colin found themselves wrapped up in.

"You'll be sixteen for graduation" Colin said matter-of-factly.

"Yea, I guess I will be, and you'll be seventeen. Speaking of which, I can't believe we graduate in just over four months." Tsuna spoke with hushed excitement as the realization set in. She hadn't really thought of it too much before but it had almost been three whole years since she enlisted and almost a whole year since the last titan incident.

"I know, I'm kind of excited but I suppose when the time comes I'll just be really scared." Colin trailed off realizing that he may have to fight titans in just a few months. Tsuna noticed the boy's fear and couldn't help but feel a twinge of exhilarating fear herself. She couldn't wait to make those beasts pay, even at the expense of her life. "Speaking of which, what regiment are you joining after graduation? You'll most likely be able to go to the Military Police."

"Pfft, as if. I'm joining the Survey Corps." Colin made a slight gasp as his hand covered his mouth.

"B-b-b-but Tsuna! That's the most dangerous of the regiments. You could go to the interior or at least stay here in the Garrison Regiment." Colin looked like Tsuna just grew horns and fangs.

"What's the point in that? I want to go make something of myself, I want to do everything in my power to help mankind. I want to destroy the titans. But more than anything, I want to take back our world." Tsuna's voice was serious and hope filled. Colin thought that she was crazy but at the same time he found it kinda awe inspiring. He wasn't brave enough to go outside the walls, but here Tsuna was willing to sacrifice her life when everyone, herself included, knew that she could make it into the Military Police. Tsuna was about to ask Colin what regiment he was going to join but before she could get anything out she was hit square in the forehead.

"Ow what the-"

"Tsuna! You won't make it into _any_ regiment if you don't pay attention" Tsuna slowly turned to the front of the class, where the instructor stood as he scolded her.

"Yessir" Tsuna mumbled with a pout on her face. She slouched back into her chair. Colin had went rigid, fearfully awaiting his tongue lashing but it never came. After the lesson began again he let out the breath he had been holding. Ever so slightly he leaned towards Tsuna.

"Sorry" he whispered looking guilty.

"Eh, it's not your fault," she let out a breathy chuckle, "I'm pretty used to it." They stopped talking and went back to listening to the lecture, well Colin did, Tsuna opted for daydreams and doodling on her desk. After a while the lecture ended ad everyone was excused. Tsuna and Colin exchanged a small goodbye, Colin had gone back to his usual introverted, no confidence, self as he ducked away and tried not to stand out. Tsuna found it funny because he was actually one of the tallest trainees and his dirty blond hair was always discernable no matter how much he tucked his head down. She was brought out of her stupor by an arm around her shoulders.

"Looks like you were getting cozy with 'please-don't-notice-me' Colin" Daniel said jokingly. Tsuna elbowed him in the stomach and he let out a small 'oomf'

"He's a nice guy, leave him alone" Tsuna warned Daniel as she started walking back to their barracks to wait till dinner was ready. Daniel quickly followed her, albeit with a pout. Tsuna could hear Daniel mumbling something about 'he better back off' but she quickly silenced him with an over-the-shoulder glare.

"You looking forward to dinner with Gumpert?" Daniel asked after a few moments of silence.

"Ugh, I totally forgot about that" Tsuna threw her head back in mock distress, enabling her to look at an upside down Daniel. "Please help, I've made a mistake, I don't even really want dinner." Her complaints earned a laugh from Daniel and a kick to her butt. Tsuna struggled to keep afoot, there was no Jean or Reiner around to catch her fall this time. Daniel laughed at her flailing limbs.

"Maybe you should just tell him that you don't want to hang with him" Daniel said matter-of-factly.

"It's not that simple, I don't want to be rude. Plus it's not like I have a good excuse, everyone know that I don't do anything after dinner except hang out and sleep, same as everyone else." Tsuna let out another groan.

"That your new mating call?" Daniel teased and Tsuna burst into laughter, Daniel chuckling along with her.

"You're such a smartass Daniel" Tsuna let out between laughs, after she had stopped laughing Tsuna let out a satisfied sigh. "Wanna go find Allen and Hiro before I have to go hang out with "Mr. handsome"?" Tsuna used her fingers to quote 'Mr. handsome' in the air, it was a term she used when she was making fun of how much other girls drooled over Gumpert, especially Sierra. Daniel chuckled at her exaggeration, knowing that she didn't actually find him all that overly attractive.

"Sure, even though they just walked off without us. Those losers always manage to leave class first." They headed towards the barracks where the missing members of their group were most likely at. They liked to hang out there for a while since almost everyone else went to the mess hall or on walks. Tsuna walked up the steps leading into the barracks, Daniel right behind her, when she stopped at the entrance. Daniel had to lean on the door to keep from running her over and was about to grip at her when she turned and put her hands all over his face to keep him from talking. She put her finger up to her mouth in a 'shh' motion and then pointed inside the barracks. He leaned over her and peeked inside to look around before his eyes found their way to Hiro's bunk where Hiro and Allen were cuddling each other.

"Aww" Tsuna let out as quietly as possible. She was happy to see that her friends were getting along in their relationship, they hardly ever had time just to themselves and it seemed like they had luckily been the only people inside the barracks at the moment. Hiro was holding Allen tight against his chest while Allen hugged him. It looked like Hiro was whispering something to Allen. Not wanting to intrude on their personal moment, Tsuna turned around into Daniel's chest before pushing him back so that they were both away from the doorway.

"That's nice, they hardly ever get lovey time" Daniel said sounding genuinely happy for his friends.

"I know, why don't we go see who all is in the mess for now? We can come get these guys in a little bit." Tsuna suggested and Daniel nodded.

"Whatever floats your boat, girly" Daniel said with a grin. Tsuna gave him her signature punch to his shoulder before grinning along with him.

"You're such a dork" Tsuna said as they laughed their way to the mess hall together.


	6. Update

Okay so not a chapter update (I'm working on one though so it should be up soon) but I wanted to clarify a few things because I think my first few chapters were iffy, and put my headcanons for this story out there

First of all I want to go over the whole cheesy relationship things between Bertolt, Reiner and Tsuna. I intended for it to be a weird, awkward, thing that developed fairly quickly, mostly on the boy's side, but I think I rushed things just a tad (especially in their first scene together). Hopefully everyone reading this knows that Reiner and Bertolt are the Armored and Colossal titans, respectively. Now, I have this little headcanon thing where the titan shifters are more instinctual than normal humans, especially when it comes to emotional things, for example love or attraction. As such I wanted to portray that with Bert and Reiner in a way where they are attracted and drawn to Tsuna and feel like they've known her for a while (hence why they feel like it's okay to just walk off with her alone, at night, into a forest when they only just met that night) and it's something that they can't really help (not that they notice that they're being weird goofballs). The thing that I feel like I _didn't_ portray is that Tsuna wasn't completely okay with what was going on, but she didn't want to be rude and she was pretty confident in Daniel's choice of just leaving her with them. Yes, Tsuna was/is attracted to both of them but that doesn't really settle in until after the first few chapters (I haven't really truly even gotten to that development yet).

To add to that, obviously Daniel knows just who Bert and Reiner are. He knows what they've done and he knew the moment he laid eyes on them (hopefully soon I'll explain why he knows in the story). Tsuna _doesn't_ know about who they are but she feels like they aren't really normal. So all the times where there have been major interaction between Reiner/ Bert and Tsuna, Tsuna is trying her best not to be judgmental and rude and she goes along with how things play out. Hopefully this clears up the walking through the forest scene and the scene where Daniel lets Reiner carry Tsuna to the bunks and everyone is just sitting there like 'this is awkward'. Because it is awkward. And I want it to be awkward but I don't want it to seem like Tsuna is okay with it. She just goes with things and trusts Daniel.

Another thing that bothered me that I don't want to go back and rewrite is the whole thing about Daniel and Hiro trying to play match maker with Tsuna. Daniel does _not_ want Tsuna to be with someone (besides him) but he obviously knows things that she doesn't, like Reiner and Bert's secret, and he wants her to be safe. This means that he wants them to be on her side (he knows they can protect her). Hiro isn't interested in playing matchmaker either (although he does think that a guy in Tsuna's life could make her happy) but Hiro also knows about Reiner and Bertolt (Daniel told him) and he thinks that Daniel is being utterly ridiculous and mopey. Hiro and Daniel have obviously discussed things and Hiro thinks that Daniel should just tell Tsuna how he feels and protect her himself and Daniel thinks that that is a horrible idea. Hiro would rather Tsuna end up with someone else (or no one) than monsters like Bertolt and Reiner so after noticing some chemistry between Jean and Tsuna he decides that he'd try and get them together to prevent anything from happening between Reiner and Bertolt. Basically it's a big messed up triangle thing that neither of them really want to happen or care about but both of them think that what they are doing is for the best. Tsuna's just swept up in everything not even realizing because she's a fifteen year old girl who is just starting to realize that there's a big difference between boy and girls and guys can actually be attractive.

Which brings me to my next thing; Tsuna _knows_ that there is a difference between guys and girls, but that's only anatomy wise. She's never looked at a guy romantically before. She's just starting to realize what romantic feelings are and she's completely awkward about it and not ready for it because she has never once pictured herself with a family or spouse or anything besides a uniform that says she can kill titans. Tsuna's basically thinking that Jean is just another 'bro' but she can tell there's something different but she has no idea what it is, yet.

Sorry if anybody was waiting for a new chapter and got hopeful when they saw this, but I don't want to rewrite this stuff and it needs to be clarified for future chapters. Also, for anyone reading this, let me know if you guys have any ideas or just comments and questions about the story, I have a plot but it isn't extremely fixed and I don't know who Tsuna will end up with yet (SPOILER, kinda, there will be a few other guys who catch her eye but I think they'll just be OCs). The next chapter should be up soon. Thanks for reading!

P.S. I updated some of the chapters, mostly just spelling or grammar changes a few paragraph and dialogue changes but nothing too major.


	7. Moving Things Along

I'm going to start to try to add in more interaction with Eren's group, for people who like them more than Jean/Connie/Sasha or Reiner/Bertolt. Also, I *might* bring back a character that shouldn't be able to be in this story (a canon character at that). As always, reviews, comments/questions and constructive criticism are/is welcome.

By the time dinner was being served, Hiro and Allen had made their way to the mess hall hand in hand. Daniel, Tsuna and William had engaged themselves in several extensive conversations until William was dragged away by Amy, who wanted some couple time. And eventually Gumpert had found Tsuna and they were currently waiting in line for food.

"Did you have a good class today?" Gumpert tried to start a conversation, breaking the mostly peaceful quiet that had enveloped the two of them.

"Yea, I guess. I don't care for class work too much" Tsuna said with a shrug. "How was your class?"

"Oh, mine was fine. I had biology and anatomy so it was pretty uneventful" Gumpert could even talk about classes with a smile, something really must be wrong with him Tsuna thought to herself, half joking and half serious.

"Better than history" Tsuna scoffed just at the idea of that class.

"You don't like history? It's a very easy class" Gumpert looked somewhat surprised, but only half-heartedly.

"Well it's not that it's hard, I just don't think learning about humanities last hundred years of imprisonment is very interesting."

"Hmm," Gumpert seemed to be contemplating something, "I think it would be better if they would teach us about what happened before the walls- no, before the titans actually." After a few seconds Gumpert looked down at Tsuna with an expression of surprise and a hint of worry, "Oh, but please don't go around telling people I said that, I wouldn't want to go to prison or end up worse, you know" Gumpert offered a sheepish yet charming smile as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Of course I won't, I completely agree with you" Tsuna was both impressed and shocked that Gumpert actually said and thought those things. She never pegged him for that type of guy. "Hey, um, do you know Colin?" Tsuna asked. She wanted to make sure that Gumpert wasn't just trying to sound cool but actually had just gotten the idea from her conversation with Colin earlier that day.

"Colin? Oh, you mean the tall, shy fellow?" Gumpert seemed to be genuine in his curiosity.

"Yea, with the blondish hair?"

"Well, I wouldn't say I _know_ him, but I have seen him around. Not that I have something against him, but, he just doesn't seem like the type of guy I could easily talk to" Gumpert said with a more natural smile, he looked fairly attractive when he sincerely smiled, even Tsuna would admit to _that_ much. "Why do you ask?" His question caught Tsuna off guard.

"Oh, uh, well I just had a conversation about the same kinda thing earlier in class with him and it just made me wonder if maybe you two were friends" Tsuna gave an uneasy sort of chuckle that she hoped wasn't obvious.

"Oh, well fancy that" Gumpert said, his 'perfect' smile back in place. They had reached the front of the line by now so the conversation was, fortunately, interrupted before things got awkward. After gathering their food, Tsuna followed Gumpert to a table that she didn't usually set at and that she assumed was Gumpert's usual meal time hang out. Tsuna noticed Sierra and Meg were both seated at the table and that things could get kind of messy. Before any of that could happen though, Gumpert smiled at both the girls.

"Hello ladies" he greeted both of them with a small nod of his head. "Would you mind if Tsuna and I sat here?" Tsuna couldn't pin-point it, but something was off about the way he was speaking. His tone had this minuscule difference to it that actually seemed worlds apart from how he usually spoke. Not only that, but the two girls were both slightly taken aback.

"Um, s-sure, Gumpert" Sierra stuttered, her eyes were practically glued to the blonde's face but instead of the usual admiration there was that uneasiness.

"Yea, of course" Meg also muttered, _her_ eyes were everywhere except Gumpert's face. Both girls stood to leave, giving quiet goodbyes to the boy, and fairly intense glares towards Tsuna, before leaving to eat somewhere else. Tsuna was about to ask Gumpert what he did to make those girls hop on the looney wagon but he spoke first.

"Please, have a seat Tsuna" He said as he gestured towards the end part of the bench, presumptuously across from where he would sit. Tsuna took a second to register what he had said before giving a small 'Oh!' and quickly sitting down. After Tsuna had taken her seat, Gumpert sat down across from her like she expected. Tsuna started nibbling her bread, noting rather happily that there were more vegetables today than anything meaty. Gumpert watched her for a few seconds before eating a spoonful of the small portion of stew. After maybe a minute, Gumpert used a napkin to wipe his mouth off before speaking.

"Tell me, is it true that you don't eat meat, Tsuna?" He said before taking a drink of his water. Tsuna was sure that her vegetarianism was common knowledge among the 105th trainees, most people had gotten their questions and snide comments over with the first year or so of them being here.

"Um, yea, I suppose it is" Tsuna said curtly, she was suddenly wary of the boy in front of her.

"That must be hard for you" Gumpert said with a smile as he took another bit of stew, this time a chunk of meat took up the majority of his bite.

"No, not really. I mean, I haven't eaten meat in a long time so I don't even remember the taste really" Tsuna said matter-of-factly, taking her own bite of the steamed vegetables on her tray.

"Well then tell me, what's your favorite food?" Gumpert asked and their conversation went on casually for a while. Back at Tsuna's _usual_ table, Hiro, Allen, Daniel, William and Amy sat with Survey Corps members Jean, Connie, Sasha and surprisingly Bertolt and Reiner. They took up all the seats of that particular table, which was currently dedicated to watching Tsuna and Gumpert's dinner.

"This doesn't look good" Hiro exclaimed from next to Allen who nodded in agreement. "She looks so uncomfortable."

"I told her it was a stupid idea" Daniel chimed in, an 'I-told-you-so' tone apparent in his voice. Daniel hadn't bothered to turn around and watch, he knew she wouldn't have much fun talking to a guy she hardly knew.

"Who is that guy anyways?" Connie asked from next to Sasha the two had been watching Tsuna and Gumpert just as enthusiastically as Hiro and Allen.

"Oh, he's that one guy who thinks he's all that because a few chicks dig him. Total stick-in-the-mud, and rich boy" Daniel spoke like it was no big deal.

"You're just jealous that he has more lady friends than you" William said with a chuckle, Amy giggled from next to him with a weak 'don't be rude'. Daniel turned to glare at William, both boys started laughing together after a few moments of a staring contest. Hiro brought them out of their shenanigans by waving his hand in front of their faces.

"Guys, guys! We have a problem here" Hiro said with a 'duh' sort of tone.

"What problem? She has to eat dinner with someone 'cause she was too nice to say 'no'" Daniel said with a smug tone. "This is what she gets for not listening to me."

"How cruel can one guy be?" Allen asked with a shocked and disappointed look on his face. Daniel snorted at him and offered an incredulous expression.

"Really?" Daniel's words did nothing to soften the glare-pout-thing Allen was giving him, now joined by his boyfriend. "You two" Daniel left the sentence there with a shake of his head.

"Is he a bad guy or something?" Sasha asked now.

"No, he isn't bad at all. These guys are just over reacting," Amy said with a 'don't-worry-about-it' look, "_all_ of them are" this time her look was pointed at the three boys who had spent the majority of dinner arguing over the subject at hand.

"Don't listen to her, he's a total weirdo" Hiro's voice was hushed like he was telling everyone a huge secret.

"And a pompous ass brat" Daniel added.

"Tsuna totally doesn't like him, she says he acts too artificial," Allen joined in, "and quite frankly, I agree."

"So why'd she agree to eat with him?" Reiner finally joined the conversation.

"She was just trying to be polite, she's not really good at being openly rude to people she hardly knows" William, who was across from Reiner, answered. Reiner seemed to contemplate something for a moment.

"I don't see what talking about it is going to accomplish, she made her bed now let her lay in it for a while" Daniel said between bites of stew, intentionally aggravating Hiro at this point. Towards the back of the mess hall Tsuna and Gumpert were currently discussing ODM techniques.

"Well, the way I see it is if you push your feet forwards while leaning your body back, you'll get the most momentum on your way back up from the drop" Gumpert tried using his hands to explain what he was talking about.

"For me it's kind of like swinging. And I honestly think it depends on where the wire is at in correlation with your body" Tsuna added. While she wasn't completely at ease around him, having dinner with Gumpert was going a lot more smoothly than she thought it would, albeit boring as all get out. She still would prefer to be at her regular table among her friends. Her and Gumpert's conversation continued on, somewhat dully but Tsuna tried her best to grin and bear so as not to offend Gumpert. It wasn't _him_ so much that made things boring, it was just that compared to her usual dinners this one was quite bland. There weren't enough people and things were too quiet, whereas at the other table tings were as lively and busy as usual. Reiner and Bertolt had been quiet talking back and forth for a few minutes, Amy and Sasha were having a discussion about cooking while Connie listened intently although not able to offer much input. Daniel, Allen, Hiro had taken to telling Jean about all the people that they, and Tsuna, did not like out of their fellow trainees. Reiner and Bertolt both stood and told everyone that they would be back before walking off. The others took a few moments to see where they were going before returning to their activities. Reiner and Bertolt made their way to a certain table where a certain white haired girl sat at. Tsuna was startled out of her conversation by an arm around her shoulders and a body sitting next to her.

"Hey Tsuna!" Reiner said with a cheesy grin. Bertolt sat on Tsuna's other side and offered her a smile.

"Hey there" he said. Tsuna had nearly choked on the piece of bread she had been swallowing when the two startled her.

"H-hey, guys" she said still somewhat shaken and confused.

"Hello" Gumpert said, drawing the two guy's attention towards him. He had that perfect façade up again, Tsuna noticed.

"Oh, hey there. Gumpert, right?" Reiner asked knowingly.

"Yes, and you are?" Gumpert played along.

"I'm Reiner and this is Bertolt. You don't mind if we join you, right?" Tsuna wondered what the two Survey Corps members could possible want, their company wasn't unwelcomed though, at least by her.

"No, of course not" Gumpert's expression and tone had changed slightly just like before. Tsuna felt like there was something she was missing, like there were two conversations going on and she could only hear one. Reiner finally let go of Tsuna's shoulder and relaxed into his spot on her left.

"So I saw you're performance earlier, you're not half-bad" Reiner told Gumpert, who still had that look on his face. Tsuna looked up at Reiner and noticed that he, too, had a similar look on his face.

"Oh? I wish I could say the same for you, but regrettably I can't" Gumpert said before taking a drink from his glass. Tsuna heard Reiner let out a small breath of a chuckle.

"With your skill you might even make it to top ten" Reiner said casually, but the underlying challenge wasn't casual at all. "Now that Mason guy, _he_ was pretty impressive" Reiner had that matter-of-fact tone, along with an undertone of smugness.

"Mason? Hardly" Gumpert scoffed like he found saying that very word disgusting. "That kid never tries at anything, he's _always_ slacking off. Not to mention that he almost always falls short of beating me by one or two 'kills'" Gumpert sounded haughty.

"And I suppose someone like you takes training seriously" Reiner said somewhat dubiously.

"Of course, I try my best at everything I do" Gumpert's eyes were gauging Reiner, sizing him up as they played word games.

"Wow, that other guy must be pretty good then if he can slack off _and_ do better than you when you try _so_ hard" Reiner's tone was taunting, Tsuna could hear the laugh in it. "It must be pretty frustrating actually, someone like you who tries so hard getting beaten or outmatched by someone with such talent."

"I don't quite care so much for being beaten but his obvious disregard for his blatant talent is questionable." Although he had said he didn't care, Tsuna could tell that Gumpert was upset by Reiner's words. Things were going to get awkward and Tsuna didn't want that. She went to say something but Bertolt grabbed her attention before she could.

"How was your dinner Tsuna?" He asked with a smile. Although his question was honest, Tsuna could also see that he had purposefully cut her off from interrupting the other's dispute.

"Uh, It was fine" she said trying to understand just what was going on.

"That's good, I'm glad" his smile remained in place and Tsuna couldn't help but enjoy the sincerity behind it and notice how much more handsome it was than Gumpert's. Reiner and Gumpert's 'friendly' dispute continued but Bertolt kept Tsuna too bust too say something about it.

"You know, I found it pretty impressive to hear about your reasons behind not eating meat. It takes a kind heart to think the way you do" Bertolt said and Tsuna couldn't help but blush at the compliment and the fact that he, like Jean, had commended her on her choice.

"Th-thank you, that means a lot" her voice was quiet and rather shy. Bertolt's smile grew when he noticed her blush and that she was made happy by his words. He reached over and gently ruffled her hair.

"I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true." Tsuna found that, in that moment, she had fallen ever so slightly for that smile of his. Their moment was interrupted by Reiner.

"Hey you two, let's go. Daniel wanted to talk to you about something Tsuna" Reiner said as he stood up and offered Tsuna a hand, which she took. Before walking off she stopped and turned to Gumpert.

"Thank you, dinner was nice tonight" She said with a smile on her face, interrupting Gumpert's glaring contest with Reiner.

"No, thank _you_ Tsuna. I really enjoyed talking with you" his words were accompanied by his real smile and Tsuna found herself pleased by that notion. She nodded her goodbye before joining Bertolt and Reiner in heading back to her usual table. After a few moments of silence Tsuna spoke up.

"So, uh, what was that about?" She asked, still following the duo.

"Didn't look like you were having a lot of fun so I guess we thought we'd intervene, or something like that" Reiner answered with a nervous chuckle. Bertolt nodded his head in agreement.

"Did Daniel set you up to this?" Reiner chuckled at this.

"Actually no, he thought you deserved it for not listening to him."

"Yea, I figured as much. Well, thanks for rescuing me from death by boredom" Tsuna snickered as they arrived at her usual table. She rested her arm on Hiro's shoulder, startling the boy.

"Oh! Tsuna, hey" he offered his greeting when he realized who had startled him.

"'Sup dudes?" Tsuna greeted the table with her signature grin, which widened when she noticed that Jean and Connie were also at the table. Tsuna noticed that Daniel was giving her the cold shoulder and faked a pout.

"Daniel" Tsuna said, trying to get his attention and failing. "Daniel" louder this time. "_Daniel" _she had moved from her place on Hiro's shoulder to stand right behind her offending friend. She let out a huff when he still hadn't answered. After taking a few moments to think, Tsuna grinned wickedly before wetting her finger with a fair amount of spit and then promptly shoving it in Daniel's ear. Daniel immediately retracted from the intruding digit and whipped his head around to glare holes into Tsuna's existence. Everyone at the table burst into laughter, a few of them covering their mouths in guilt.

"What the fuck?!" Daniel shouted as he tried to clear the saliva out of his ear.

"Yea, what the fuck" Tsuna copied, her hands on her hips and her own glare pointed at Daniel. Their glaring contest continued for approximately thirty seconds, the others at the table quiet with anticipation. They both suddenly burst out in laughter, Daniel patting Tsuna's shoulder in a 'good job' and Tsuna nodding her head at Daniel like 'I know right'. Hiro, Allen and William all chuckled along, having known both Tsuna and Daniel for quite some time they expected something along the lines of what happened. The survey Corps members looked at each other to see if they missed something, and poor Amy looked like she almost had a heart attack. Thing's didn't always end so peacefully between Tsuna and Daniel and Amy was left to break things up since the others in their group always took sides.

"That was freaking gross Tsu'" Daniel had calmed down enough to speak.

"But it was amazingly hilarious" Tsuna said as she erupted into more laughter, bringing Daniel with her. "I mean, did you _see_ your face?" At this point the S.C. members had caught up to speed and were grinning or chuckling.

"You guys are great" Connie said with a grin. Daniel and Tsuna reminded him of Sasha and himself, always goofing off or getting into trouble. Next to him, Jean found himself smiling, finding the white haired girl completely endearing. He thought briefly that he should be grossed out, but the thought quickly vanished. Everybody eventually calmed down and dinner continued as cheerily and boisterous as usual. It didn't take long before it was time to retire to the barracks. Reiner and Bertolt had left a few minutes early, they didn't tell anyone but they liked having time alone every once and a while. Amy and William also went to have couple time, as usual, before they fell asleep. It was a nightly routine where the two would hang out at Amy's bunk talking and cuddling. The others took to hanging out at Tsuna, Hiro and Allen's bunks which were all by each other, Hiro's across from Tsuna's and Allen's above Hiro's. The barracks were co-ed but there were separate changing and shower areas. Tsuna had been lucky to be placed by two of her friends, Amy and William were almost the whole barracks apart and neither of them were by any of the other people from their group. Amy's top bunk partner was Meg, much to Amy's displeasure. Daniel, who was also separated from his friends, ironically shared a bunk with Mason, neither of them were happy about the arrangement. The Survey Corps members had all gotten the unused group of bunks that would normally be reserved for the members who had dropped out.

After a few minutes of playful conversation, Connie and Sasha said goodbye to Tsuna's group and headed to their own bunks for the night. Tsuna watched as the two of them walked away and she found herself thinking that they would make a good couple and Connie wasn't wrong in liking Sasha. Briefly Tsuna thought about what type of guy she would fall for, if she ever did. She was brought from her thoughts when Daniel said he, too, was going to his bed. Tsuna smiled and extended her arms for a hug, a nightly routine between the best friends.

"I should probably go too" Jean spoke up. He offered a smile, mostly to Tsuna. She returned the gesture, the slightest of blushes tinting her features.

"Well, goodnight" Tsuna said, her connecting briefly with Jeans before she diverted them to the floor. His own cheeks blushed and Hiro could be heard chuckling at the two of them.

"Y-yea, night" Jean let out stiffly before turning and fast walking to his bunk. On his way he ran into a boy that Tsuna recognized as Eren, the two of them seemed to exchange somewhat friendly, somewhat harsh, banter. Tsuna let out a breath of a laugh at Jeans embarrassment before realizing that she had also been embarrassed and flustered. She thought back to her previous considerations of what type of guy she could see herself and wondered if maybe it would be someone like Jean. Someone she felt comfortable around, someone who made her laugh and whom she could make laugh.

"Watcha thinkin about Tsu?" Hiro asked from across from her. He had reclined in his bunk to read from one of the texts they had been assigned and Allen had already gone to his bunk above Hiro's. He had changed into his night clothes which consisted of a loosely fitted white shirt and three-quarter lengths khaki colored pants. Tsuna remembered a time when she would have found him attractive, she had never told anyone but he was her first, and only, crush as a young teen. She had quickly resolved her feelings and started looking at him as just another boy.

"Me? Nothing, just things I guess" she said as she sat down on the side of her bunk that face Hiro. He looked up from his text to examine Tsuna.

"What kind of things?" He had the beginnings of a grin on his face. "Anything that might have to do with how you've been staring at Jean a lot?" He now grinned in full.

"I don't like him" she stated simply and somewhat defensively, giving Hiro a look that said 'drop it'. He didn't listen.

"Didn't say you did, Tsu" he said and Tsuna knew he wasn't finished. "But in all seriousness, what _do_ you think of him?" Tsuna took a few minutes to contemplate Hiro's question.

"I don't know… he's attractive, I think" Tsuna looked up the ceiling as if looking for answers.

"He is" Hiro agreed.

"He's… nice?" Tsuna said questioningly, Hiro nodded his head and made a noise of agreement. "He's funny" another nod "and, well, I don't know. I do like the guy but I don't, like, _like_ him… you know?" Tsuna tried her best to put her thoughts and feelings into words; something that didn't always come easy to her.

"But you've thought about liking him, haven't you?" Tsuna hated how Hiro could see through her.

"I suppose, but nothing serious really. Just if I _had_ to be with someone, I could see myself with someone _like_ him." Tsuna laid down and arranged herself so she was under her covers but on her side so she was still looking at Hiro.

"I know you think I'm trying to hook you guys up, but I'm not doing anything really. If you don't want to be with the guy, fine. If you do, fine, I'll help if you want. But I'm not going to pressure you into something you don't want or aren't comfortable with. So, if you want to talk to someone about how you feel or you need help figuring things out, I'm completely prepared to be there for you" Hiro said, the look in his eyes told Tsuna that he was being completely serious and she was relieved. They smiled at each other and Tsuna was glad she had someone like Hiro around, her big brother figure that she could go to about serious things that she couldn't talk to Daniel or Allen about. Tsuna took a few moments to think about what she wanted to say to him, Hiro waited patiently.

"I've never really been good with the really heavy emotional things, especially romance related," Hiro nodded to show that he was listening, "so I think that I've kinda just avoided those kind of things." Tsuna took a few more seconds to think about how to put her thoughts to words. "To be honest, I probably do somewhat, just a little bit, like- and I mean like hardly at all- like him. I don't want to though, I don't really know what to think of that kind of stuff. I mean, I'm like fifteen and I've never been drawn towards girly things like romance, or whatever normal girls do. I like hanging around boys, I always have and I don't really think about anything besides training and you guys." At this point Hiro had shut his book and rolled to face Tsuna as well, still listening intently. "I don't know how having someone to love would work out when I plan on spending my life fighting the titans. I wouldn't want to leave someone behind while I went on expeditions, and I definitely wouldn't want to bring someone along with me. So I guess I actually _have_ thought of things, just not with intentions of finding someone to like or whatever. I just want to kill titans, and see the world with you guys" Tsuna finished. She awaited Hiro's response as he thought things out.

"Well, that was a lot more deep than I thought it would be" he had a grin on his face as he teased Tsuna. She rolled her eyes and mentally shoved him. "Here I thought you were a one track mind… Seems to me like you don't want to change, so just don't. I didn't change for Allen, I still have my plans and dreams and my friends. I didn't plan on loving him, it just happened. If you find someone, it'll either fall into place or you'll move on, either way you gotta do what feels right. If you don't feel right liking someone or trying to like someone then don't. If you want my opinion on you and him, I think it would work out because he's in the S.C. and you want to join the S.C.. I think your personalities match and I think he's just as awkward as you are, and it's cute, but all that really matters is what _you_ think." Hiro said, he was surprised by how serious Tsuna was taking things. _She's probably confused about her new feelings_, he thought to himself.

"Yea," Tsuna said distractedly like she was thinking, "I shouldn't worry about that stuff right now, huh?" Hiro chuckled.

"Exactly, it's not really like you to worry about things anyways. You always just act, no thinking" Hiro said with a soft smile. "And I mean that in a good way" he added before she could take offense. Tsuna again wished she could smack him. Yea, she was glad she had this dork around. "You should really just try to befriend him and things will go from there. Now, what I really think is that you should get some sleep, little girls need their rest" Hiro winked at her and laughed as she threw her pillow at him.

"Whatever, you're only like a year older than me" she called him out.

"A year and a few months, remember _I_ already turned seventeen" Hiro said haughtily as he threw Tsuna's pillow back at her. She went to say something but her face had caught the pillow. Hiro chuckled when he heard Tsuna mumble something about him being an ass. "You know you love me."

"You're lucky I do" Tsuna said with a fake pout before yawning. She shot Hiro a glare when she heard an 'I told you so'. "Yea, yea. G'night smart-ass."

"Goodnight Tsu."

The next few weeks went on as usual, Tsuna and her friends began to spend their free time with their friends in the Survey Corps on a regular basis. It was normal for Tsuna's group to hang out with Jean, Connie and Sasha and sometimes even Bertolt and Reiner. Tsuna had also gotten to know Eren, Armin and Mikasa better and found that she and Eren had quite a few similarities _and_ on top of that she found out that he was actually the titan shifter that helped take Trost back from the titans. Tsuna followed Hiro's advice and stopped trying to like Jean and, instead, just take things as they come. Jean on the other hand had long since fallen head over heels for the girl. Amy had formed a close friendship with Historia and therefore Ymir. Overall, Tsuna and her friends got along quite well with the members of the Survey Corps. It was currently lunch break on a Wednesday which meant that break was extra-long in order for Shadis and the other instructors to have meetings and what not. Tsuna's group of friends, which now included Jean, Connie and Sasha, were seeing who could balance a cup of water on their head the longest. Amy, Allen, William, Hiro and Connie had already been eliminated, leaving Tsuna, Daniel, Sasha and Jean with water cups on their heads. Daniel was starting to wobble.

"Looks like you're starting to lose it" Sasha said mockingly, she had been trying to get him out since she noticed his weakness. "Be careful, don't wiggle around too much." Daniel was trying his best to ignore her but he had never been good at mature things like that. "Don't mess up," another jibe from Sasha.

"Would you just shut up woman" Daniel said, he was looking up towards the ceiling like he could see his water cup. Sasha laughed at his comment. Tsuna smiled at their competitiveness. She was doing wonderfully, balance was a natural thing for her. She looked at Jean who was trying his hardest to stay completely focused on not dropping his water all over himself. When he looked over at her and their eyes locked, Tsuna smiled at him and received a blush and smile in return. Jean started wobbling and had to hurry to correct himself. _Don't get distracted Jean_, he thought to himself but still ended up sneaking a few glances at Tsuna, each time losing a little balance. He was awoke from his thoughts by a commotion to his left, looking over he found that Daniel had spilt his water all over himself. Daniel wore a sour expression and a glare that was pointed directly at Sasha, who was laughing and cheering. Tsuna started laughing too and Jean couldn't help get distracted, her laugh was so enrapturing and innocently beautiful. He found himself loosing balance as he tried to look over at the girl who had captured his affection, he turned his head to fast and ended up stumbling backwards and tripping over his own feet. He landed on his butt, his water split all over his head and front. Everyone took a turn laughing at him, as they had done with everyone who had been eliminated, and his cheeks burned in embarrassment, but it was okay because he got to hear Tsuna laugh again. Both Sasha and Tsuna lasted a few more minutes before Daniel decided he would push Sasha when she wouldn't stop making fun of him, it was a friendly push and they both laughed when Sasha was doused by her water cup. Tsuna took her water cup from her head and put it down but Connie decided that she wouldn't be spared from it and decidedly dumped the cup's content on Tsuna's head. Tsuna stood there in shock for a few moments before grinning and joining everyone in their laughter. Overall, it was an eventful lunch, full of laughter and enjoyment. The group decided that they needed to change clothes or at least dry off so they headed back to the barracks before lunch ended. Tsuna's hair got the worst of it, complements of Connie, so she figured she only needed a towel to dry off. She retrieved one and proceeded to dry out her hair. As she was walking to the bins where the cadets put their dirty laundry, so she could tend to her towel, she passed by Reiner and Bertolt.

"Hey" Reiner caught Tsuna's attention and she stopped.

"Oh, hey guys" Tsuna said with a smile. Bertolt gave her a wave in greeting. Tsuna had gotten used to his shyness and had started to find it rather adorable.

"Did you lose or something?" Reiner gestured to the towel that draped around her neck. Tsuna laughed.

"No, I actually won but Connie decided to dump the water on me anyways" Tsuna explained. Reiner chuckled.

"Sounds like him" he added.

"What are you guys up to?" Tsuna asked. She had seen them during lunch and during part of the water balancing competition but they must have slipped out when she wasn't looking.

"Oh, Ymir was being obnoxious so we just came here to escape" Reiner said with a laugh.

"She _can_ be pretty hard to be around sometimes" Tsuna understood what Reiner was talking about.

"More like most of the time" Bertolt finally spoke up and Tsuna laughed and nodded her head. She felt a lot more comfortable around the two of them, she thought it had something to do with not trying to overcomplicate things like Hiro suggested. She even thanked them for taking her to the barracks when Daniel had asked them to, it had allowed her to cool her head and make up with Hiro. Tsuna also accompanied the two on so walks sometimes, to the same spot they had taken her the first night they arrived. They had this weird, but awesome, habit of giving Tsuna piggy-back rides on their way to their favorite spot, by request of Tsuna herself. It wasn't tense and uncomfortable like the first time they had taken her there, and Tsuna learned to just go with the flow when things got awkward or too intense.

"You're awesome Bert" Tsuna applied her newly found nickname for Bertolt. He grinned at the compliment and the name.

"Yea he is" Reiner said as he wrapped his arm around the taller male's neck to ruffle his hair. Tsuna felt privileged to be around the two of them when they were like this. She had long since asked them about their relationship and discovered that they were, in fact, a couple and she also noticed that not many others got to see them being open with each other. She didn't know why they chose to let her see them like that but she wasn't complaining. She liked to see people happy together and she especially enjoyed feeling special, but who doesn't.

"I gotta go brush out my hair, but you guys wanna hang out later?" Tsuna asked.

Without much contemplation or hesitation Reiner answered, "Sure," followed by a smile from both him and Bertolt.

"Alright then, see you dorks later" Tsuna laughed and waved as she continued her trek to the hampers. She saw Sasha and Amy who had already changed and dried off and decided to join them in waiting for the others. Tsuna looked around and saw Daniel changing his shirt, not bothering with privacy, and Hiro toweling off his hair. William was making his way towards her group, most likely for Amy. Jean, Connie and Allen were nowhere to be seen so Tsuna figured they were off changing or something. Tsuna decided she would wait outside for everyone. It was a sunny day, clouds scattered here and there, and there was a nice breeze making the temperature quite pleasant. Normally she'd gripe about how bright it was or how the sun burned her skin but she couldn't find the words today, it seemed far too peaceful and almost perfect. She imagined that spot, the one that Reiner and Bertolt took her to, was amazingly beautiful that day. The calm lake would have a flawless reflection of the scenery around it, the mountains dusted lightly with white clouds here and there. She imagined that there would even be some wildlife around the shores or grazing in the nearby forestry. She could see herself sitting there, feet hanging over the edge of the cliff they always stood at, and just enjoying the serene atmosphere. For the briefest of moments Tsuna wished that everyday could feel like those few seconds of bliss, but she quickly shook that thought away before she was able to get attached to it. Peace wasn't an option for someone like her, or anyone really.

"Tsuna?" She heard off to her side. She opened her eyes, which she didn't realize were closed, and turned to the source of the voice, Jean. He was looking at her with a look of slight confusion, that silly half-smile of his graced his features.

"Oh, hi Jean" Tsuna said, still not fully recovered from her daydreaming.

"Did I interrupt something?" He asked with a small chuckle. Tsuna gave a small smile that she thought would probably look solemn. Jean's smile faltered slightly.

"No" Tsuna thought her voice sounded weird and apparently Jean did too because his smile had dropped completely from his face.

"Tsuna? You okay?" Tsuna was confused and she felt rather odd. Jean was looking at her like she was an alien. Tsuna felt something wet hit her chest and looked around to see if it was raining.

"Y-yea," her voice broke, "of course I am" Tsuna had no idea what he was talking about. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're crying" Jean said like it was the most obvious, and weirdest, thing in the world. Tsuna stared at him for a few seconds like she didn't understand what he was saying before realization touch her features. Her hand found it's way to her cheek where it was met with moisture. Tsuna pulled the appendage away and looked at it like she couldn't comprehend what was going on. She felt more drops hit her chest.

"I- I don't, I don't know what… why…" Tsuna searched for words that she couldn't find. She heard her nose sniffle and she mentally told herself to cut it out. The scene of the mountains flashed in her mind again and she felt herself sob.

"Whoa, um, don't cry?" Jean was bad at this kind of thing, "Here, uh, let's sit down" Jean gestured to the stairs since there weren't any chairs. Tsuna nodded her head, confusion plastered on her face. Jean tentatively grabbed her hand and led her to the stairs where he prompted her to sit. She complied as he looked around for possible help or someone more acquainted with that type of situation, finding no one, before sitting down next to her. Tsuna was trying to wipe her tears away, her cheeks red with embarrassment. "What's wrong?" Jean asked, he thought briefly that the two of them probably made a funny scene; him completely confused and not knowing what to do about the girl who was crying next to him, equally confused and unsure.

"I, I really don't- I just- I don't know" Tsuna was exasperated with herself for crying without even knowing why. Jean noticed her frustration.

"Well, uh, are you, like, _hurt_ or something?" Jean was searching for an answer for both of them. He glanced around again to see if anyone had noticed or could help. _Maybe I should go find Daniel or Hiro_, he thought before his attention was brought back to Tsuna by a sob.

"No" she shook her head, once again wiping the tears from her face. "I was thinking about- and then," another sob interrupted Tsuna's explanation.

"What were you thinking about?" Jean said, hoping he would find some sort of answer. Tsuna took a few moments to reply.

"I was just thinking," she whimpered and Jean felt his heart strings pull, "I was thinking about how _nice_ it is. I mean, today… it's really nice out and… I felt really _peaceful…_ I think" Tsuna tried her best to explain what she had been feeling. Now Jean was really lost; those were good thoughts, good thoughts aren't supposed to make people cry. "I-, it's just that… it's not really, y'know…" Jean _didn't_ know, but he let her try to think things through. If nothing else, he could at least listen. "Things _aren't _okay… they _aren't_ peaceful… I hate it" Jean barely heard those last few words, but he did and he understood. He used to do it too, he'd let his guard down and then reality would smack him in the face. He never cried because of it, if anything he got angry. He would always take his anger and sense of dread out on everyone around him before he learned to deal with it, to live with it. And now, he never had time to let his guard down, he knew things weren't okay because he faced reality every time those gates opened and they went on a new expedition.

"Me too" he heard himself saying before he could even think about it. Tsuna's sobs quieted and she looked at Jean, he thought maybe he had made her more upset but he didn't have time to think about that either before she had latched herself onto him in an awkward hug. It was awkward because Tsuna had to lean over and twist her body and even then she barely reached far enough to wrap her arms around his stomach and bury her head in his side. Jean startled slightly and looked around, he was clearly unsure of what to do. He eventually rested his hand on her head and gently rubbed her hair like he remembered his mom would do for him when he was upset. He wasn't sure what to think and he was suddenly aware of how dangerously watery his eyes were getting. They sat there like that for a few minutes, Jean wouldn't admit it but a few tears had made their way down his cheeks. He felt relieved, he knew he wasn't the only one who had thought that way, who felt utterly hopeless or who had had their hopes completely crushed, but nobody ever said anything about it. It was sort of forbidden in a way and he was glad that he could finally let some of his feelings out, albeit discreetly. Neither of them heard the footsteps approaching behind them until it was too late.

"-and then Sash…a… Jean?" _Oh shit_, Jean thought as he hurried to erase all evidence of tears.

"Tsuna?" that was definitely Daniel. Jean felt Tsuna tense up and he figured she was in a similar state as him, neither of them needed their friends to know about their little outburst.

"What are you guys doo…ing?" Sasha had popped into Jeans field of visions and he froze. "Are you crying?" Sasha took a few moments to inspect him before announcing it to the others, "he's crying," well she was blunt about it.

"What?" Connie asked like it was a joke before he appeared on the side that Tsuna was on. "Oh shit dude" Connie's playful smile fell from his face and his eyes dropped down to Tsuna. "Is she?..." Connie left off the crying part and instead gestured down to Tsuna like she wouldn't know he was asking about her if he wasn't too loud about it.

"Tsuna?" Hiro joined the group on the stairs this time. He sent a warning glare up to Jean as if it was his fault. Tsuna thought this was the perfect time to detach herself from Jean's side with a smile like nothing happened.

"Oh, hey guys! What's up?" her red cheeks and poufy eyes gave her away, despite her unconvincing acting. Hiro gave her a look that said 'don't' and the façade slowly fell from her face. "Listen, nothing's wrong and Jean didn't do anything" she said, not wanting to be interrogated.

"Then why are you crying?" Hiro said, unimpressed. Tsuna gave him a little glare before answering.

"I don't know, I was having a girl moment or something" she really wanted to just leave it at that.

"Then why is _Jean_ crying?" Hiro gave her a disbelieving look.

"Yea, was he having a girl moment too?" Connie teased Jean, earning a threatening look.

"Yea" Tsuna just wanted to be left alone about it already. Jean gave her an incredulous look. Connie and Sasha snickered.

"Tsu" Daniel added with his 'just tell the truth' voice.

"Nothing. Really. I seriously just got a little emotional. Honest" Tsuna looked Hiro straight in the eye as she tried to be convincing as possible. Hiro sighed in defeat with an 'alright'. Tsuna turned to give Jean a little look so he wouldn't say anything but he was already standing. She felt she could trust him. Connie offered her a hand and she took it as she stood. "Thanks" she offered as she brushed her backside off. The mood was slightly awkward and tense but fortunately Shadis arrived and thoroughly distracted everyone with training. Shadis explained that today the cadets would go through a different type of training that would also involve the Survey Corps members. Looks of excitement and confusion could be seen on both the 105th cadets and the S.C. members. Shadis went on to explain that the exercise would involve groups, each led by a member of the S.C. and some of the lower ranked officers that helped oversee the trainees on a regular basis. The groups would be picked based on skill level and skill sets. Each group would be assigned a spot in surrounding areas, where a certain number of dummy titans and/or other objects would be found along with a set of instructions and goals. After the group completed their assignment they would meet up with another, predesignated, group where the group leaders would switch off and another assignment would be given to the cadets to complete. Both tasks were to be completed before sundown or both the cadets and their group leader would be given extra tasks the next day. Shadis also mentioned that the first three groups to finish would get special treatment the next day. Tsuna heard murmurs of how unfair that was, and how there were obvious advantages for certain people, but she figured that the only thing holding anyone else back from winning would be their own self-doubt, or poor leadership. Shadis called the Survey Corps members up so that he could explain things in more detail and Tsuna wondered briefly who she would get as her group leader, or leaders, and she hoped that it was one of the Survey Corps members because the officers that Shadis mentioned were usually bitchy or too serious. Each of the group leaders had received a paper with their destination and group members on it. Tsuna was put in group one, led by Mikasa, along with Mason, Colin, Gumpert, a girl named Irene, and two boys named Umar and Hugo. Mikasa started going over a few rules and told them vaguely what they would be doing. Tsuna didn't think the group leaders knew exactly what they would be doing either. Mikasa also told them their destination, which Tsuna new was on the edge of the forest where trees were sparse.

"Also, anyone who cannot keep up, or who slows the group down _will_ be left behind and will have to return here alone." Mikasa's words were sharp and devoid of sympathy. Tsuna wasn't worried about being left behind herself, and she knew that Mason and Gumpert felt the same. She was somewhat worried about Colin, he wasn't as good as Mason or Gumpert, but Tsuna quickly banished that thought from her head. Colin didn't stand out, but he was actually better than most of the other cadets. The other three- Irene, Umar and Hugo- were on a much lower level than the rest of the group and would be the most likely to fail. Tsuna almost felt sorry for them. "We'll cut through a part of the forest using our ODM gear to get to our destination so you will need to go equip that. Be back here in five minutes, ready to go." Tsuna and the rest of them, including Mikasa, went to put their ODM gear on, along with nearly everyone else who was taking part in the activity.


	8. Unlikely Friendship

**slight triggers for rape** no rape actually happens but there are mentions and slight depictions of such.  
Sorry for any typos, I didn't proofread this chapter too good. Let me know what you guys think.  
Also, I'm trying to get the OC character development out of the way so that I can get relationships established and move on to more actiony things and more canon/OC interaction.  
Enjoy :)

Tsuna and Mikasa were the first to equip their gear and regroup. Colin and Irene made it back next, shortly followed by the rest of their group. Since the day's training was technically a race, Shadis was going to release all the groups at once. Mikasa's group, which Tsuna found out was group two of fifteen. Apparently when Shadis said that the groups would be picked based on skill he meant that groups with persons of higher skill would be smaller so that each individual had to do more work and groups with less skilled individuals would have more people so that the work was spread evenly throughout the trainees. Groups one through four were made up of five to seven cadets and one leader, groups five through ten were made up of ten cadets and one leader, and groups eleven through fifteen were made up of twenty cadets, a leader and a supervisor. Tsuna thought briefly that while half of her team was pretty substantial, Umar, Hugo and Irene were pretty much freeloaders and really should have been placed in a different group. In all actuality, Tsuna was wondering why Shadis grouped the supposed top three cadets, being Gumpert Mason and herself, together. On top of that, their group leader was top of her class as well, _and_ they also had a genius like Colin. This was definitely a winning group, if not an unfair group. The next best group was probably the one with Daniel, Hiro and Mathias, who one of the other favorites for top five. That group also had Amy and Helga, who were neither outstanding nor incompetent. The person Tsuna was probably most concerned about today, if it came down to it, was Mathias. He didn't stand out much, kinda like Tsuna herself, and he slacked off a lot, but he would probably be the best of the cadets to go against Tsuna. He was a fairly tall guy, but he was almost as fast as Tsuna and to date he was the only one who had stolen a kill from her. His overall skill probably wouldn't beat Daniel's but his speed and agility was pretty top notch. And this was a race, where speed mattered.

Shadis told the groups to get ready to start. The cadets, and group leaders, had to run to the forest where they would use their ODM to get to their designated starting points. Tsuna waited in anticipation for Shadis to signal the start. She loved competitions, especially when she knew she was up against her friends. Her heart pounded in her ears as her legs shifted somewhat to better launch herself into a run. Time almost seemed to slow down as Tsuna calmed herself and focused. All around her the other cadets readied themselves, but Tsuna tuned it out. Seconds ticked by before Shadis shot a flare signaling the start of the exercise. Everyone started running to the forest line. Tsuna focused on keeping up with Mason, who was leading the group at this point. Somewhere to her side was Mikasa and Tsuna was fairly sure that Colin was a few feet behind herself. Gumpert was slightly ahead of Tsuna but he couldn't catch up to Mason either. Tsuna briefly cursed Mason's long legs and natural athletic physique. By the time that they reached the forest, Tsuna was breathing slightly hard. The pace set by Mason had Irene and Hugo meters behind the rest of the group and even Colin had lost a little ground. Most of the other cadets had yet to reach the forest, Tsuna did note that Daniel and Hiro's group was keeping up with theirs.

"Switch to ODM gear and head towards the destination" Mikasa ordered the group as soon as they passed the first few trees. Tsuna ran a few more steps before jumping and shooting the wires of her gear into the trees, pulling herself into and through the air and towards their destination. This was the first time that Tsuna and the rest of the 105th trainees had gotten to see the former 104th members use their gear. Tsuna had to admit that Mikasa was impressive, she definitely stood out. Tsuna felt somewhat competitive and challenged by Mikasa who had assumed the lead. Knowing where they were heading, Tsuna figured that she would test herself against a battle hardened member of the Survey Corps and top of class cadet. Tsuna optimized her gas output to carry her through her up-curves and let momentum and gravity drag her on the down-swings, as she does during group ODM assessments. She caught up to Mikasa fairly easily, but wasn't sure if Mikasa was aware of her challenge yet. Mikasa _had_ noticed and was watching the white hared girl out of the corner of her eye. While she didn't seem like the type of person to take such a challenge seriously, Mikasa actually prided herself in being as good as she was and was rather easily goaded when it came to such a dare. She was just good at hiding how much she actually cared and how much effort she put into things. After all, she couldn't protect Eren or Armin if she wasn't the best that she could be. After taking a few moments to evaluate the younger girl, Mikasa ever so slightly upped her pace. Tsuna noticed the change and smiled to herself. _Challenge accepted_, Tsuna thought as she, too, increased her speed to match the older girl. After waiting for Mikasa to take the next move, Tsuna decided that she would just go all out, she'd either beat Mikasa to the meet up area or she wouldn't. And she did just that, passing Mikasa and leaving the group behind as she went ahead. Mikasa also sped up, but she didn't pass Tsuna back. They were both incredibly fast, leaving the other group members to scramble to keep up. As Tsuna had predicted, Mason, Gumpert and even Colin managed to stay relatively close to the two girls, but Irene, Hugo and Umar were slowly losing more and more ground. Tsuna was excited, Mikasa was keeping up with her and pushing her more than she had been by any of her fellow trainees. Tsuna wondered momentarily if she could afford to go faster or if it would take up too much gas. She pushed the thought from her mind and went for it, increasing her gas output and maneuvering herself through the air in that optimal way she always had, using her gas, momentum and gravity in the best combination she had found.

By the time they reached their first objective, Tsuna had gained quite a few meters on the rest of the group, including Mikasa. She had beaten Mikasa, the girl that everyone always compared her to, and it was as gratifying as she thought it would be. Gumpert and Mason were the first to arrive after Mikasa, followed shortly by Colin and then Hugo. It took over a minute for Umar and Irene to make it to the rest of the group and Tsuna wondered if Mikasa would send them back for falling behind and wasting the group's time. She didn't. There was a supervisor at the location that would oversee and evaluate things. Mikasa retrieved the instructions that Shadis had mentioned and found read them to herself before explaining things to the group. While she was doing that, the cadets noticed the several dummy titans strewn about the sparse trees and grassland.

"It seems that our task is only to take out the twenty dummy titans in this area. The instructions also mention that if anyone lingers on the ground for more than thirty seconds, they fail this test and must return. I am not to participate in the activity, but I will be evaluating your skills and making sure none of you break any rules" Mikasa explained a few more things to them before telling them to begin. Tsuna found it somewhat difficult to maneuver freely with only so many trees. Some of the titans were too far away from trees to be gotten without touching the ground. Mason Gumpert and herself took care of those ones while the others worked on ones that could be gotten using the trees. Tsuna was trying to get one of the titans that required ground work, she was running up to it from behind so that she could get close enough to launch one of her wires into the dummy's neck. She got close enough and jumped so that she could use her wires and gas to get up to it but ended up landing on her butt. She had ran out of gas and therefore really couldn't do anything. _Dammit_ she thought to herself, _I knew I shouldn't have used all that gas up earlier_. Tsuna stood there, somewhat flabbergasted, as she waited for her thirty second to be up. According to her internal countdown, she had about ten seconds left before she failed. She stood there berating herself, she had already killed three titans and now it wouldn't count for anything. _Five seconds left_, she told herself. She heard a noise behind her and before she could turn to see what it was, she felt herself being grabbed and hoisted into the air. She let out a small yelp of surprise and fear as she was dangled from her waist and dragged through the air. Whoever had grabbed her, grabbed her so that as they carried her she faced down towards the ground and it was not doing good things for her heart. She latched onto her savior as best she could, which pretty much included clutching at their leg and waist for dear life. She closed her eyes and hoped that they would be on something solid soon. A couple more seconds passed before Tsuna felt however was carrying her land on something and it was another couple seconds before she let go of them. Whoever they were, they sat her down, for the most part carefully, so she was on her knees. Tsuna looked to see who it was and was shocked when she was met with a glare from none other than Mason himself. She felt her mouth fall agape and she couldn't help feeling extremely shocked and worried. Maybe he saved her so she would owe him and he would make her do unpleasant things, like take his cleaning shift or wash his laundry for him. He leaned down and Tsuna went to move away from him, she ended up just falling back onto her ass. He reached for her face and Tsuna closed her eyes tightly. She wasn't necessarily _afraid_ of the guy, but he was bigger than her and they didn't exactly have the best of history together. Not to mention she was still pretty dumbfounded by being saved from failing by a guy who she thought couldn't stand her. She felt him flick her forehead.

"What was that about?" He asked her. Tsuna opened her eyes to find that he was still crouching in front of her but his hand had retreated from her immediate space bubble. Tsuna tried to answer him but when she opened her mouth nothing came out. "You look like a fish" he said matter-of-factly, his expression was one of mild interest, slight annoyance and plenty of boredom. Tsuna closed her mouth abruptly at his words and shot him her best glare, which at the moment wasn't much. "Are you trying to fail?" He tried getting a response out of her again, but Tsuna wasn't sure if she should answer. "Maybe I should just go put you back down there, huh?" Mason stated more than asked when Tsuna didn't say anything.

"No" Tsuna blurted out before she could help herself. She regretted speaking when a smirk found its way onto Mason's mouth. He struggled to remove it which made Tsuna even more regretful. He found her stubbornness completely humorous.

"Well, maybe you'll answer me then?" The question was rhetorical and more blackmail than anything. He looked disinterested but Tsuna knew that he was enjoying this.

"I ran out of gas" Tsuna mumbled.

"What was that?" There was a grin on his face that told her he heard but wanted to torment her more.

"I said, I ran out of gas" Tsuna had her eyes looking as far away from the offending male as possible.

"Ohhh, I see. You mean when you were trying to be a showoff earlier, you used up too much gas and ended up making a fool of yourself" Mason was definitely enjoying this. Tsuna waited for more jabs from the blackette. Mason seemed to be thinking things over with himself. "Bet you were expecting nerd boy, or pretty boy huh?" Mason asked distractedly.

"Yea, kinda" Tsuna grumbled out.

"Disappointed?" he asked, more curiously this time.

"No" Tsuna's words garnered his attention and they stared, or kinda glared, at each other for a few moments before Mason grinned again.

"Let's get you over to the supervisor, maybe they'll give you some gas" Mason stood up so that he towered over Tsuna's form. He offered her a hand and she hesitantly took it.

"Who said I care?" He defended.

"You could have left me down there" Tsuna stated the obvious and Mason considered her words.

"It wouldn't be very cool if the person who always manages to beat me failed because of her own stupidity" He said before stepping closer to Tsuna and grabbing her by her waist.

"Wait!" Tsuna's words fell on deaf ears. "Wait! Mason stop!" he readied himself to jump from the large tree branch they had been resting on. "Oh my god" Tsuna breathed out as she felt him jump and start towards the platform where Mikasa and the supervising officer were standing. He let out a chuckle at her reaction. Tsuna latched onto his leg again, only this time she was facing the same direction as Mason was. They made it to the platform in one piece and Mason let her down, once again surprising Tsuna with his gentleness. After explaining what happened to the officer there, who was thankfully one of Tsuna's favorites, they found out that everyone was going to be refueled before going to their next assignment and that Tsuna's three 'kills' would still count because Mason got her before her time was up. Mason didn't bother going for anymore 'kills' as there were only a couple left. After everyone returned to the platform, they were asked for their 'kill' counts. Umar, Hugo and Irene each got one, Tsuna had only gotten three. Colin and Mason both got four, and Gumpert got six. Tsuna was upset about her low ranking in the group but she figured she would make it up in whatever they were doing next. Before they left, Tsuna wanted to thank Mason because she hadn't and, even though he could be a real ass, he did save her the humiliation of failing.

"Mason" She called out to him and he turned to look for who called him, his eyes landed on Tsuna and she couldn't tell if he was upset, annoyed or if that was just his default expression. He walked closer to her as he tried his best to look like she was just bothering him.

"Hmm?" he made a questioning sound, not bothering to actually ask 'what'. When Tsuna didn't reply right away he looked at her with a slight look of annoyance.

"Uh, I guess I want to say thanks?" Tsuna sounded like she was asking him for permission and Mason had to stop himself from smirking.

"You _guess_ you do, or you _do_ want to?" His gaze was unwavering as he spoke and Tsuna found it too hard to meet so she opted for looking around them. He noticed her hands fidgeting at her sides and couldn't contain his smirk, Tsuna noticed this and looked at the ground. After a few more moments, Tsuna spoke up again.

"I- well, Thank you" She spoke just loud enough for him to hear her.

"You aren't interested in what I want in return?" Mason said uninterested. He hardly meant it, he just wanted to see how she would react.

"What you want… So it _was_ a ploy to get me to owe you" Tsuna's tone gave away the fact that she was seriously worried about what he wanted her to do. Mason couldn't help but laugh at Tsuna's complete seriousness, he had meant his question as a joke but if she had really considered this then he would play along. "I won't do cleaning duty for you" Tsuna blurted out before she could help herself. Mason laughed at her again.

"Is that so?" He was smiling and at any other time Tsuna would have been mystified because she had never seen a true smile on the boy's face before. Yea he usually _smirked_ or _sneered_, but he never really _smiled_. "Then I suppose you won't do my laundry for me either?" He laughed once again when Tsuna looked at him with a 'how-did-you-know' sort of look, she gave him a slight glare in return. He looked up towards the sky and grabbed onto his chin in a thinking sort of posture. "Hmm, what do I want from Tsuna?" He glanced down at her and grinned when he noticed her eyes narrow. He let her worry for a few more seconds before relenting his torture. "I guess I'll think of something later" he tried his best to look and sound uncaring.

"What?! No, you can't do that" Tsuna didn't want to have to wait to find out what her torture was going to be.

"Make sure you eat dinner early because I'll get you as soon as I finish mine" he wavered her off as he walked away. Tsuna stood there, mouth agape, as her tormentor walked away like this was a joke. In all actuality, Mason had no idea what he would even ask her to do or if he'd even remember this by the time dinner came around.

Mikasa and the supervisor talked for a minute or two before Mikasa addressed the cadets again. She explained that they would meet up with another group and switch group leaders, she told them where they were going but she had no idea who the other group leader was. They departed for the meet up area in the forest. They arrived there before the other group and therefore had to wait for them to get there. The whole time they waited Tsuna was worrying herself over what kind of tortures Mason would have her do. She thought about just not doing what he asked but decided that it went against her morals, he _did_ help her after all. Although when you help someone you don't usually want anything in return. Mason noticed Tsuna's nervous and somewhat frantic behavior and snickered to himself. He should probably tell her not to worry about it, but where's the fun in that? Contrary to popular belief, he didn't _hate_ Tsuna, he _did_, however, find her annoying and completely baffling. He didn't understand the girl and it bothered him to no end whenever he was unable to come to rational conclusions about her actions and thought process. He was, in that sense, completely interested in Tsuna. She was that one problem that he could never figure out and was, consequently, quite often on Mason's mind. It was infuriating and utterly ridiculous. He had long since stopped thinking of her as a fellow cadet, in his mind she was nothing but a bother that he really should get rid of but just can't because he has yet to figure her out. Not only did he have to spend three years of his life constantly around her, but fate looks down upon him so cruelly that the anomaly of a girl decided she would join the same regiment as himself. It was laughable, really.

Tsuna was brought from her worries when she heard people using ODM gear approaching them most likely the other group that they were supposed to meet up with. Looking around, Tsuna spotted the approaching persons and could not see any of her usual friends. She did happen to notice that the group was led by none other than Connie. She wasn't sure that he was grade A group leader material, but was glad that it was someone she got along with. After Mikasa and Connie exchanged some group leader stuff, Mikasa took over the group of ten that Connie had previously been in charge of, and Connie inherited Tsuna's group. Tsuna grinned, when Connie noticed she was in the group, and received an enthusiastic smile in return. Connie briefed them on where they were going and the group headed off. On the way there, Connie asked Tsuna about what they had done with Mikasa and Tsuna explained how they had to take out dummies with little to no cover. Connie laughed and said it sounded like the kind of stuff they had to do in the Survey Corps. Tsuna also mentioned her previous predicament of running out of gas, and how it had happened because she raced Mikasa to the assignment. Of course, Connie teased her about it and congratulated her on her surprising victory over Mikasa. Their next assignment hadn't been very far away and was held in a clearing of the forest.

Tsuna looked around at all the equipment things in the clearing and it dawned on her that it must be an obstacle course. There were things suspended in the air and a few more things scattered across the clearing's floor. The other cadets seemed to come to a similar realization as some of them, herself included, looked excited and some of them were grumbling about how ridiculous this assignment would be. Connie read the instructions and confirmed what everyone was thinking, it _was_ an obstacle course. The cadets had to clear it in less than a minute, starting on the ground, moving to aerial acrobatics, and then back to the ground to the finish line. Tsuna was excited about the task, it seemed challenging and entertaining. She would definitely have to brag about it if none of her friends got to do it as well. Connie gave them an order in which they would proceed, Tsuna was third behind Colin and Irene. If anyone failed to make it through in less than a minute they would be removed and sent back, just like the thirty second rule in the last assignment.

In the end only Umar didn't make it through, he failed the course and therefore the assignment. Tsuna had the best time, but that was to be figured as she was the smallest and most agile of the group. Colin surprisingly had the second best time, followed closely by Mason. Tsuna would _definitely_ be found boasting about that task later. The Cadets headed back to the main training grounds, and Tsuna wondered if they finished fast enough to be a winning team. They managed to be the second team back, securing a position as a winning team and whatever special treatment Shadis had mentioned. The team that beat them was the one that Daniel and Hiro were on, Tsuna wouldn't hear the end of _that_ for a while. The group leaders were called aside to give their reports to Shadis and the cadets were told to wait in their groups. Tsuna had a huge grin plastered on her face, happy that their group won and happy that she had the best time in the obstacle course. Mason, who had been sitting near her, noticed her elated state and decided he could probably tease her some more.

"What are you smiling about?" He said and Tsuna instantly whipped her head to face him with a questioning stare.

"Uh, I'm happy" Tsuna looked like she was waiting to be scolded.

"Hmm? What for?"

"We won, well we got second but it's still winning" She said with an excited voice. Mason couldn't help a little chuckle.

"Is that so?" He pretended to debate something for a few moments before continuing. "The way I see it, you wouldn't be able to celebrate if it wasn't for me" Tsuna went to rebuttal but Mason cut her off, "and you even get a _special_ day tomorrow too" he ended with a look of smug superiority.

"Well, you get a special day too. Plus I already thanked you… and before you try to rub it in; I still owe you or whatever you wanna call it" Tsuna said with a slight pout.

"Glad you remembered" Mason held in his laughter. Tsuna turned her back to him and pouted to herself for a while before excitement overcame herself again. Eventually, when all the groups made it back and when all the group leaders and supervisors were done giving their reports or whatever, Shadis announced the winning groups; group four placed first, group one placed second, and group seven placed third. Shadis also announced that the winning group's reward was a half day off the following day. At that point Tsuna and the rest of the cadets that had won were all ecstatic, while the rest of the 105th was upset and jealous. The winning groups would most likely get shit from the others and Tsuna was pretty sure Shadis did that on purpose. Everyone had a few last training exercises to do while dinner was being prepared. Tsuna hurried to finish her to-dos so she could get dinner early, as Mason had suggested. When she had pleaded with Daniel to help her he had merely laughed and told her not to do anything. She tried explaining that it was morally right to give back when someone gives to you, he said that she was being ridiculous and that Mason was most likely just messing with her. And so, she ended up getting no help from her supposed 'best friend' who keeps hanging her out to dry when she makes the tiniest of mistakes. All of her friends stayed behind in the barracks to hang out while _she_ went to the mess hall to grab some food. Surprisingly, dinner was already being served. It was unusual for dinner to actually be ready on time. Consequently, Tsuna was one of the only people in the mess hall and she felt completely lonely and awkward. She grabbed her food, which looked like cheesy broccoli, some bread and a meaty substance, and headed towards the table that she normally sat at, it was eerily empty and she found it very lonesome. A few bites into her bread later, she was startled out of her solitude when a tray was placed, none too gently, on the table next to her. She almost gave herself whip lash when she turned to see who it was, expecting one of her usual companions. The smile that had formed on her face quickly fell when her eyes were greeted with familiar black hair. Of course it wouldn't be one of her friends, it just _had_ to be _Mason_ of all people.

"Don't look so happy" he said as he placed himself right next to the girl. Her only reply was a look mixed between shocked and horrified.

"Oh dear God" she mumbled quietly to herself, not expecting Mason to hear.

"I heard that" he stated matter-of-factly. "Come on, I'm not _that_ bad" he continued, his voice said he really couldn't care less if he was that intolerable or not. He smirked to himself as if he had thought of something humorous. He held up his small bread loaf and looked at it pointedly before glancing towards Tsuna's own tray of food. "Trade ya" he said, drawing Tsuna's attention away from the table. She took a few seconds to register his words.

"For what?" She was confused, what could he possibly want from her now.

"Obviously for that stuff you won't eat" he said with a 'come on now' sort of face. Realization hit Tsuna's face and she stumbled around her words for a few seconds. Mason rolled his eyes and plopped the bread on her tray before taking the weird meatloaf glob from her plate. "I really don't get you."

"Wait, how'd you know that-"

"-you wouldn't eat it?" he received a nod in confirmation. "I'm not stupid, contrary to popular belief" Tsuna knew he wasn't stupid, he was ranked higher than both her _and_ Colin in the classroom, "you're one of those vegetarian people; you don't eat meat" he explained himself as if Tsuna had no idea of this herself.

"So? Why'd you want to trade with me? Nobody likes that _stuff,_" she gestured towards the offending meat glob with a look of disgust, "anyways."

"How do you know that? That _stuff_," he mock quoted, "could be my absolute favorite food."

"So, you're saying you like that shit? Cause it doesn't look like you're eating it." It was true, he hadn't touched his original glob or the one he took from Tsuna's tray.

"Maybe I like to save the best for last." He received a look of utter disbelief on return.

"Are you telling me that _you_ just did something that benefitted someone besides yourself?"

"No, I'm not" he said flatly.

"That's not what it seems like to me" Tsuna said, enjoying the fact that she was finally able to tease him in return for all the years he's tormented, and glared, at her.

"You know what," he said as he snatched the bread from Tsuna's plate, "I think I take it back."

"No, no, no, no! You can't do that" Tsuna said as she reached for the bread. He held it up out of her reach and she stood up in order to try to retrieve it. The stuff was valuable. He switched the bread to the hand that was on the opposite side from Tsuna and used his now free hand to restrain the girl, pushing her back down by her shoulder. Tsuna's struggles were futile and the bread was far out of reach.

"Now you're gonna have to say please" he gave her a few seconds to do so before shrugging and bringing the bread to his mouth.

"Wait!" He did, "um, please." A smirk emerged onto his face.

"Please… what?" Tsuna debated if her dignity was worth a piece of bread.

"Please, can I have the bread?" she attempted a pout but it was quickly replaced by joy when Mason did hand her the bread. "Thank you" she said with a smile. He offered a grunt in response. The rest of the dinner was mostly just Mason watching Tsuna eat both loafs of bread and her cheesy broccoli, out of the corner of his eye, and sometimes just full on staring at her. She didn't really care either way, the guy _had_ given her bread, a highly sought after item in Tsuna's eyes. Just as the mess hall was starting to fill up, Mason told Tsuna to hurry up and finish whatever she needed to do. He had yet to think of something for her to do. She didn't really have much to do so she ended up being told to follow him out of the mess hall. Tsuna quickly deducted that they were headed to the Barracks and she half-way hoped that her friends weren't there, she wouldn't want them to see her humiliate herself or anything. When they arrived at the Barracks, Tsuna noticed that there was hardly anyone in there, maybe three to five other people besides Mason and herself. She was relieved when she noted that none of her friends were there and that two of the other people seemed to be leaving the Barracks. Tsuna followed Mason to what she knew as his bunk, she only knew because Daniel's bunk was the one right above Mason's. Mason sat down on his own bunk and gestured for Tsuna to sit on the one across from where he was sitting, Tsuna looked at him tentatively but did as he told her to do. She was pretty sure that it was Colin's bed anyways, and he probably wouldn't mind. Mason was busy contemplating what he could ask of her that would completely blow this whole charade out of the water. To Tsuna, Mason looked like he was just staring at her and it made her slightly nervous, it also gave Mason a rather cruel idea.

"Just so we're clear, I'm not going to have to clean for you right?" Mason chuckled at her insecurity.

"No, but I _do_ want something from you" he said with an evil grin.

"What is it?" Tsuna asked skeptically.

"Come here" Mason didn't answer her question. When she hesitated, he gestured for her to hurry. Tsuna took slow steps towards the guy in front of her, he patiently waited for her to get close to him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her right in front of him when she got close enough. Tsuna felt Mason's hand on the back of her neck, holding her close to him so she couldn't pull away. She stood in between his legs, his chest brushed against her from their proximity and Tsuna had to brace her hands on Mason's shoulder to keep from falling onto him. She felt him breathe a chuckle next to her ear. "What if I told you that you could repay me with your body?" Tsuna went to jerk back but his hold on her was firm and unyielding.

"Wh-what? What do you mean?" Tsuna was blushing, she had a good idea of what he was implying but she refused to believe it. There was another chuckle at her ear. She squirmed to get away from him but he refused to let go.

"Exactly what it sounds like" Mason's voice was low and his mouth was placed right next to her ear. Tsuna's blush reached the tip of her ears and she pushed against him, trying again to get away. He grabbed her with the hand that wasn't on her neck and rolled them to the side so that she was on her back on his bed and he was over her on all-fours. Mason's hands captured' her wrists in a vice-like grip. "What would you do if I kissed you right now?" He asked as he leaned forward to where his mouth was close enough for her to feel his breath. Tsuna's eyes widened and she latched her mouth shut. When Mason moved forward Tsuna shut her eyes and struggled against his hold on her. She felt the breath of his laugh hit her mouth before she felt the bed shift and his hands relinquish their hold on her wrists. Tsuna opened her eyes and looked around to find that he had moved back to his original position of sitting on the bed's edge. She felt and looked thoroughly confused and worried. Her heartbeat still hammered in her chest and her face felt overheated.

"What…?" she finally managed to speak. Mason looked at her with a smirk.

"Disappointed?" he laughed when her mouth fell open as she tried to stutter out a coherent sentence. "Did you really think I was just going to have my way with you? Here? In the middle of the Barracks?" He threw back his head in a laugh. "Do I really seem like that type of guy to you?" Another laugh. Tsuna wasn't sure what to think other than that was probably the one of the scariest things that had ever happened to her. She felt her eyes water and prayed to whatever being might be listening for the tears not to spill. Of course they did anyways. Mason stopped laughing when he heard the girl next to him sniffle. "Wha? Oh God, are you crying?" He asked incredulously. She only sobbed in return as more tears fell from her eyes. "Really?" Another sob fell from her mouth. "Okay, just, don't do that" Mason said as he turned to face her. He hadn't meant to make her cry, he wasn't heartless. "Stop" he tried ordering Tsuna when her cries got more vocal, little whimpers escaped her mouth here and there. Mason really had no experience with anyone crying, he usually wouldn't care either but this was kind of his fault. "Okay, _please_ stop. I don't say please very often, this is a good deal" he tried reasoning with the girl who was wet with tears. _What the hell am I supposed to do with her_? He thought to himself. "A hug? Is that what you need?" He only received a whimper in response. "Is that a 'no'?" He really didn't have the patience for that type of thing. He moved to give her a hug but thought that, seeing as how he was the one who made her cry, that might be a bad idea. He settled for attempting to rub comforting circles on her back. "Okay, this is awkward. Please stop, seriously" when she refused to listen he tried bargaining with her. "How about a deal? You stop crying and I'll do whatever you want for the whole day tomorrow" it was worth it in his mind.

Tsuna was honestly trying to stop crying but she just couldn't. She would have loved to accept his deal but she couldn't even find the words to say so. When she tried holding her breath to stop her crying Mason freaked out.

"Whoa, whoa. Don't, like, _kill_ yourself. Jesus. I'll even make it for the next three days. Holy Christ." Mason had his hands out in front of him like he was trying to keep Tsuna from making any sudden movements, or self-threatening movements at that. Tsuna's breathe burst from her mouth as she laughed at his ridiculous thought, thoroughly confusing Mason who was thinking that he might have broken the poor girl. Tsuna was now half-crying, half-laughing and it was a horrible experience.

"I'm not going to kill myself" she managed to say between sobs and laughter.

"Thank God, I really couldn't handle that right now" Mason was completely relieved and Tsuna found his exasperation even more hilarious than before. She was hardly crying at that point, it was mostly just laughter spewing from her mouth. Mason looked at her like she was some weird unknown creature that he'd never seen before. It made her laugh more, which at that point meant that she was doubled over, holding her stomach which was aching due to all the laughing and crying. "Okay, are you crying or laughing? Cause at this point I have no idea what so going on over _there_" he made a sweeping motion towards Tsuna and the side of the bed that she occupied. He looked one-hundred percent serious and Tsuna, who had just started calming down, started laughing hard again. Mason threw his hands up in an 'I give up' fashion and shook his head. He let her calm down seeing as how he only seemed to be fueling the fire.

Tsuna did calm down after a minute where she ended up just lying there, partially curled up and on her side. Mason waited a few extra moments, just in case, before trying to talk again.

"Done now?" He got no reply. He nudged the girl and her shoulder, somewhat skeptically, and when she turned to glare at him he put his hands up in defense, "I was _just_ making sure you were alive."

"Don't touch me" Tsuna said as she turned her face into the covers.

"Well that's fine and all but, one; you're on _my_ bed, and two; you're not really the boss of me" he said defensively.

"…for the next three days" was all Mason heard in return.

"What?"

"I am, for the next three days. I'm your boss" Tsuna said, turning her head up to glare at the offending male. Mason contested her glare for a few moments before retorting.

"I was just saying that."

"No." Tsuna pushed herself up onto her arms, "you do _not_ get to do that to me and say that _just_ to back out. No, not happening."

"What do you mean '_do that_'? I didn't do anything" Mason defended.

"Didn't do anything? Are you kidding me? I thought you were going to, to… you know!" She was glaring quite harshly at him by this point, her voice slightly above its normal volume.

"Rape you? Why the _hell_ would I do that?" Mason said like Tsuna was being dumb.

"I don't know! You tell me. You're the one who did that- acted like that! It wasn't funny… you seriously scared me" her voice was barely a whisper by the end of her sentence. Mason felt something tug at his heart, guilt most likely. He studied the girl in front of him for a few seconds, noting that she wouldn't meet his gaze, before sighing.

"Fine, you're right" Tsuna still didn't look up. "And… I'm sorry. I only meant it as a joke, I didn't mean to upset you that much or anything" it was Mason's turn to look away, in embarrassment. They were quiet for a few minutes, the air thick with tension and emotions.

"I forgive you" Tsuna mumbled out, startling Mason who had been internally berating himself for feeling, and saying, sorry. "But you still owe me those three days" she looked up to meet his eyes with a grin, Mason noticed a few tears that were fresh on her cheeks and decided against saying something harsh or sarcastic.

"There better not be a bunch of your gross snot or whatever on my bed" he grumbled just to say something. Tsuna only laughed at his words.

"Your three days and three nights start tonight!" Tsuna's voice was chipper.

"Whoa, where's the three nights coming from? And why do nights even matter? I'm pretty sure you just established that you _don't_ want to do those types of things with me" he ended his sentence with a smirk and received a punch to his shoulder in return.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Tsuna quickly defended herself, "and didn't _you_ say you didn't want to do those things either?" Tsuna's question was more rhetoric and sarcastic than anything, she wasn't expecting a reply.

"I never said that. I said I wouldn't _rape_ you, never said anything about not wanting to do you" Mason meant his words more matter-of-factly than anything but Tsuna promptly scooted as far away from him as possible. He noticed and looked at her like _she_ was the weird one. "What?" he got nothing but stutters in return. "Oh chill, that's supposed to be a _compliment_."

"So it's not true?" Tsuna said relaxing a bit.

"No, I didn't say that. Don't you listen to anything? Oh stop freaking out, I'm not trying to make a move on you or anything" Mason rolled his eyes at Tsuna's exaggerated reactions. She had stolen one of his pillows to put between herself and him. Tsuna was shaking and stuttering, trying to form some type of defense or rearrange his words so that he didn't actually mean what he was saying.

"Th-the-the jokes over, you can stop now" she said with a nervous laugh. She received a glare along with an annoyed sigh.

"I'm being serious. _You're_ the one who is having problems doing that" Mason swore he was talking to a child.

"Well there's no way you like me."

"Didn't say I did. I said I would do you. Two completely different things" It was Tsuna's turn to be utterly confused that night.

"What?"

"Holy freaking… mmmn" Mason pinched his nose. "You are the _only_ girl who would react this way. Usually you wither agree or go away. You don't stay there and question someone when they tell you they'd have sex with you. It just makes things awkward."

"How can I not ask questions? I don't understand what you're saying." Tsuna's blush was evident at this point. Her inexperience with the subject at hand was quite obvious.

"Oh my God. Do you know what sex is?" Mason looked at her expectantly.

"That's not what I me-"

"Answer the question."

"…yea" Tsuna was sure he was just trying to embarrass her.

"Okay, thank god. Do you know what it means to like someone?"

"Duh."

"Don't 'duh' me when you're the one who is having problems understanding things." Mason shot her a loom when she made a face at him. "Do you know the difference between _liking_ someone and being _attracted_ to someone?"

"I suppose?"

"No. No supposes, only yes or no. I don't want to repeat myself because you don't get something."

"Yes, I do" Tsuna made sure to put some attitude in her voce, more to hide her nervousness than to actually give the guy attitude.

"I find you _physically attractive_" Mason made sure to carefully pronounce each word, "I _don't_ like you in a romantic sense. You understand so far?" Tsuna nodded in affirmative. "Good. That's all there is to it."

"Ohh, okay. That's good because Hiro keeps saying you like me and everything, that's why you give me, like, special treatment or whatever. I keep telling him he's wrong but he never listens. Now I can tell him I'm right" Tsuna said smugly.

"What? Why does he say that I like you?" Mason was more defensive than Tsuna thought he should be but she didn't really pay any mind to it. He was always kind of snappy.

"I don't know. He says you tell people not to talk about me or something, mostly Sierra I think he said, but I told him it's just 'cause you tell everyone to shut up." Tsuna really didn't understand the big deal, nor did she know if Hiro would be upset for her telling Mason such things, she didn't really care. "And earlier when I was asking them to help me avoid owing you he made a big deal about how you wouldn't help anyone else, but I told him you just wanted me to owe you. Just things like that I guess" she shrugged. Mason took a few minutes to think about what she was saying, it didn't really make sense to him. Sure, she was probably one of the most likeable people here, not that he really like her or anyone for that matter. He _did_ defend her, but that was because only _he_ should be able to make fun of her, not those ugly stuck-up bitches. Of course he was going to treat her differently, because he was trying to figure out why the hell she acted the way that she did. He didn't like her, she was just that annoying person he couldn't get off of his mind- but it was _strictly_ for information seeking purposes. He _didn't_ like her, he was just strangely attracted to her. In a physical and scientific perspective.

"He's dumb."

"Yea, that's what I keep telling him." Tsuna agreed.

"You know, you really made this awkward" Mason said begrudgingly. "You could have just left it alone, or agreed to some lewd activity for that matter," Mason laughed when he heard Tsuna gasp at his words, "but you just made this weird."

"No, _you_ made this weird, not me. You're the one who brought up that sort of thing anyways."

"Fair enough… but I don't like you."

"We already established that."

"Just making sure we're on the same page and stuff."

"We are." Tsuna assured the male.

"You can leave now by the way" Mason said, looking for a way to make the awkward, and Tsuna, go away.

"Nah, don't think I will. Actually, give me a piggy-back-ride to Daniel and them" Mason shot her an incredulous look, receiving a cocky grin and eyebrow wag in return.

"You're kidding" he tried.

"Nope, I love those things. I always feel extra tall and happy and stuff, and since you're taller than Daniel and Hiro I bet it'll be super awesome." Tsuna's grin changed to a smile of sincere happiness.

"Ugh" Mason made a noise to signify his disagreement and displeasure. He tried to think of a way around carrying her lazy-ass around. "I can't."

"Why not?" Tsuna said disbelievingly.

"Uh, I uhhh… I have a boner." Tsuna's smile instantly dropped and she sputtered about.

"N-n-no you don't" she tried.

"I do, you want to see?" Mason hoped she'd say no.

"I can see from right here." Tsuna nodded her head towards his un-tented crotch.

"Darn" Mason figured it wouldn't work. "Alright" he stood up and turned his back to the bed, his arms outstretched as to allow Tsuna onto his back. Tsuna grinned and jumped, flew, onto his back, her legs wrapped around his waist securely and her arms latched around his shoulder the best they could. "Holy shit you're lite. Don't know why, because you're completely lazy and you eat too much."

"I like it when you're nice, you should be like this more often" Tsuna said earnestly with a smile Mason couldn't see. He blushed and grumbled something about Tsuna not getting too used to it before heading towards the entry way of the Barracks. "I was right, it is a lot better when its you." Mason chose to ignore the possible sexual innuendos of her words.

I wanted to make Mason a very blunt person who has little-to-no shame/chagrin and who is horrible with expressing and dealing with emotions. Hope it turned out okay.


	9. Memories of the Past

Tsuna's friends find out about what Mason did to Tsuna and Daniel doesn't take the news to well. Tsuna and Daniel end up fighting.  
Daniel misses another chance to confess his feelings towards his best friend.  
Tsuna has a dream about her past and Jean finds her upset outside the Barracks. She confronts him about liking her and he admits that he does. Things escalate from there.

Warnings for this chapter include (minor-ish) character death, depictions of violence, and some intense feels.  
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Finally getting to the good stuff!  
If people want more of other characters, like canon characters or even OCs, you should let me know and I'll find a way to add it in!

"So, uh… what are you waiting for?"

"Do I seriously have to?"

"Yea, you _seriously_ do."

"You can't just walk the rest?"

"Are you really giving me a hard time right now?"

"For the love of- ok, fine. Don't even try to do that pouty thing on me, it _won't_ work." Mason was about to do the single most humiliating thing in his life. Not that he really cared what all those weak invalids thought of him, he just really, _really_, didn't want to hear what they had to say. All of this because he made one little girl cry. It was beneath him really, and he honestly wasn't the type to care about other people's problems, but he supposed that, since it was directly _his_ fault that she got upset, he could put up with this for a few days. At the very least it will provide entertainment and insight to the weird white haired girl. Maybe then he'll finally stop trying to figure her out and just be done with her.

"Anytime now~" Tsuna said in a sing-song voice, prompting the boy that was so graciously giving her a freaking piggy-back-ride from the _Barracks_ to the _Mess Hall_. They're like less than forty meters apart. Mason told her to shut her trap before walking into the Mess Hall like he owned the place. It took a few seconds, but pretty much as soon as he walked in, his cargo in place, every noise just stopped. All eyes were on him as he made his way towards the table with some of the most obnoxious people he knew. A few steps in and everyone was whispering, a few more and laughter could be heard throughout the hall. Everyone took their turn laughing at the sight, grumpy, 'I-hate-everyone' Mason giving Tsuna, who was pretty much his antithesis, a ride like she owned him. For those few seconds he was her mule. Her ill-tempered, hate filled, mule at her beck and call. Of course, Tsuna didn't see it that way and she didn't understand why everyone was making a big deal of it. Sure she expected at least Daniel or Hiro to say something, but only because they've been in the same position before, and quite often at that. Nobody ever really laughed at Daniel, who was her usual victim of sorts.

As Mason dreadfully approached their destination, almost everyone at the table was gaping at them with ridiculous grins or expressions of disbelief. The Survey Corps members that were there, Connie, Sasha and Jean, looked thoroughly confused. Not so much at the sight of Tsuna getting carried around, that was kind of usual actually, but more by the reaction of pretty much every other person in the room. Mason was trying to keep calm about the whole situation, but who did everyone think they were? Seriously. Any other time it would be complete taboo to even so much as smile at him. They think that just because there's a pint sized girl on his back that he wouldn't beat the shit out of them? No way. If anything, that insufferable female was only adding to his agitation. Who did she think _she _was?

"Hey, calm down. Just like tune them out or something" he heard Tsuna say quietly into his ear.

"You know this is all your fault. And I want to make it oh so _very_ clear that I am _not_ happy about this. Not. At. All" Tsuna wasn't sure if she should feel bad, be afraid, or laugh at him like everyone else.

"I get that, really, I do. SO how about you stop squeezing the life out of my legs." Mason grumbled some profanities, mostly towards her, but she felt his grip let up none the less. "Hey guys" Tsuna waved as Mason stepped in front of the table where her friends were seated.

"Uh, hey Tsuna" Daniel was torn between laughing or being polite and holding it in.

"Yea, hey Tsuna… Mason" Hiro started cracking up, in his defense he _tried_ to hold it on and cover his mouth but it just didn't work. Daniel made a sputtering noise as he tried his hardest not to laugh, Hiro was making it really difficult though.

"Oh, that's just great" Mason's sarcasm pushed Daniel over the edge. William joined him and Hiro in their giggle-fest. Tsuna could feel Mason tense up under her and she wasn't sure if his feeling were getting hurt or if he was getting ready to throw some punches… actually, either way fist would probably go flying. The last time that Mason and Daniel got in a fight, almost a year before, both boys ended up in bad shape. Tsuna loved Daniel to death but she'd have to say that Mason had had the upper hand, and he probably still would. Daniel was a few inches shorter than Mason and, from an outsider's point-of-view, he looked more muscular and built, just more bulky than Mason overall. Mason may _look_ smaller in some ways but he was one of those guys with lean, lithe, muscles and he was just as strong as the bulky guys, not to mention he was certainly faster than Daniel. Tsuna could feel Mason's muscles tense up and coil, things would be bad for everyone if something started between the two of them.

"Guys! Be nice!" Tsuna tried to smooth things over. "You should be thanking him, Daniel, it's usually you who carries me around." Daniel gave her a finger signaling that he was going to reply, he just had to calm down first.

"Phew, ok," a few more chuckles, "I don't mind carrying you, I hope you didn't like beg him because you didn't want to bother me" Daniel wiped a tear from the corner of his eye as he spoke. Tsuna felt Mason's chest expand, filling his lungs with a retort.

"Of course not" she hurried to keep him from saying something. "He's just being nice." Her statement earned another round of laughter from the three guys; Daniel, Hiro and William. Amy had been trying to shush William up, the last time he pissed Mason off and got in a fight he got his ass handed to him, she didn't want that again. "You guys" Tsuna's tone told them she was disappointed.

Most of the other cadets in the Mess Hall had gone back to doing whatever it was they had been doing, a few were still heard chuckling here and there or whispering things about the raven haired boy. Said boy was looking around and casually taking note of who would need their asses handed to them. Anyone who caught his eye would receive his best of death glares, which ended whatever offending thing they had been doing.

"Oh, seriously?" Tsuna continued her chiding.

"That's what we should be saying. I mean you honestly want us to believe that he's being _nice_? For_ no _reason? Yea right, that's fucking hilarious, Tsu" Daniel snorted as he called bullshit on her.

"Yea, exactly" Hiro added. Tsuna was going to say something back but was cut off by Mason.

"You know what? You're spot on, I'm not being nice. No. Actually I owe Tsuna, whatever she wants me to do for the next few days. I'm all hers" Mason was smirking, a somewhat evil glint in his eye. He had put Tsuna down as he spoke. Daniel laughed, good and hard, before inquiring the meaning behind Mason's words.

"And why might that be?" He matched Masons cold gaze with a shit faced grin and mischievous eyes.

"Because I almost had my way with her" Daniels smile fell from his face in an instant. "Yea, that's right. I had her right under me" Mason's words had Daniel flying from his seat, grabbing Mason's shirt collar in a dare to continue. "Oh yea, it was nice. Her cheeks nice and rosy for me as I kissed her. _Fucking. Fantastic_." He emphasized his last words. Daniel's fist flew towards Mason's face, colliding with a loud _crack_. Mason stumbled back a step, smirking as he wiped the blood flowing form his split lip.

"Wait! Stop" Tsuna tried to calm them down. Mason wasn't even being honest, half of what he said was a lie. There wasn't any reason to fight like that. Neither boy listened.

"She started crying too, her whimpers were amazing. A real turn on!" Mason's voice was a little louder than necessary. Daniel went to swing at him again but Mason dodged it and landed a swing of his own on Daniel's nose. Tsuna was pretty sure she heard a crunching sound. This was exactly what she was afraid of happening. Why was Mason lying?

"Shall I continue?" Mason was wearing a sneer.

"Shut the fuck up" Daniel's voice was quiet, not the soft quiet that Tsuna liked, but the scary quiet that she had only ever heard a couple times.

"_Jealous_ Daniel?" Mason mocked. Daniel went to go at the taller boy but was stopped when Tsuna grabbed onto him in a side hug.

"Don't fight" she whispered. She didn't want to see her best friend get hurt for no reason. He was the closest thing to family she had left. Daniel stared down at her in surprise, not knowing if he should push her away or listen to her. "He's not even telling the truth," she continued, "hardly any of that stuff happened. And it was all a joke." Daniel was pretty sure she was on the verge of crying so he forfeited his want to rail Mason's face in order to comfort Tsuna.

"Okay, okay. I'm done. Don't worry, ok?" Mason noticed that Daniel was a lot better at comforting her than he had been. Tsuna nodded in confirmation and released Daniel from her hold. He pat her head and rustled her hair a bit before sitting back down to prove that he wasn't going to do anything.

Mason stood in his place, the blood had ceased flowing from his lip. Daniel's nose was started to bleed pretty bad, he was surprised it wasn't broken. That had been a fierce hit from the darker haired boy. Hiro, who had all but stood up to join Daniel, settled back into his seat, albeit skeptically as he kept an eye on Mason.

"So what _did_ happen, Tsuna?" Hiro inquired, gaining the girls attention.

"Nothing happened" Hiro gave her a look warning her not to lie. "Really, I mean he tried to trick me but nothing happened. No kiss, no feels, nothing… I don't know why he said that."

"Because he's an ass" Daniel added, he was currently shoving a napkin up his nose to try to get the bleeding to stop. Hiro whacked him lightly on the back of the head.

"Says the boy who started it" he warned Daniel to watch himself.

"Me? Are you kidding?" Daniel turned towards him in disbelief.

"You're the one who got physical. Anyways, Tsuna, if nothing happened then why does he owe you? Hmm?"

"He had just scared me is all" Tsuna said lie it wasn't a big deal.

"You son of a-"

"_Sit. Down_" Hiro kept Daniel in place by his shoulder as the boy tried to stand again.

"Listen, he's been being really nice, he helped me earlier and everything. Nothing bad happened, and if you must know, he actually had me laughing pretty well. And to be honest, Daniel, you have no right to be upset because when I asked you for help earlier, you blew me off" Tsuna turned towards Daniel to address him.

"Are you kidding me? If the guy says he's doing things to you I have every right to be upset" he defended.

"Not really, unless I had said I didn't want it, which I hadn't said, you really have no right to blow up like that" Tsuna was taking her frustration out on her friend , she didn't really want to but she had already been upset too many times that night.

"So you're saying you _like_ this guy?! Are you kidding?!" Daniel was pissed at the idea of what she was saying.

"No! I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying I don't understand what your problem is! You don't even check to see if he's telling the truth, or that, if he was, maybe I wanted it! You just start throwing punches and getting yourself hurt and making me upset!" Tsuna was yelling by the end of her rant and Daniel was staring at her wide-eyed. His best friend, partner in crime, and love of his life, was getting upset because he defended her. He was the one getting yelled at, not Mason. She was pretty much taking that Black haired asshat's side. He stood up and grabbed her by the arm, probably more roughly than he should have, and essentially dragged her outside with him. "Let go" Tsuna struggled against his hold. She was too mad at him to just let him drag her around. When she wouldn't stop struggling Daniel stopped, turned around to grab her, and threw her over his shoulder so he could just carry her outside.

"I really don't think you want to have this argument around all these people" he warned her, successfully stopping her struggles. He didn't stop outside the Mess Hall, instead he walked around to the backside of the Barracks, where it was secluded but partially lit up from nearby lights. He sat her sown, a little more harsh than necessary.

"What the hell-" Tsuna was cut off by Daniel.

"Don't. Don't even start yelling at me right now." Tsuna effectively got quiet. Daniel took a few moments to calm down before continuing. "Why in the world are you defending that _ass_ over me? What could you possibly be thinking?"

"Don't talk to me like that" Tsuna didn't like it when Daniel talked severely like that to her.

"Don't avoid the question. I'm trying to be calm about this, okay? I'm trying to _not_ get pissed at you right now" Tsuna shrunk away from his words.

"I'm not choosing him over you, I'm just upset that you act so stupid sometimes. It has nothing to do with him."

"It does have something to do with him. This whole thing is because of him."

"No, this whole thing is because you made fun of him when I said something about him being nice _and then_ jumped him without even checking the validity of his statements. Or if maybe it was, like, something I _wanted_ for that matter" Tsuna tried keeping her voice level and calm so as not to aggravate her friend.

"I thought you said that you _didn't_ want it!" Daniel shouted.

"I don't! Aren't you listening to me? Or is all you care about yourself?!" Tsuna started shouting as well, her arms were out to her sides in an offensive posture.

"Are you being serious? Because I thought you were a lot smarter than that" Daniel countered. "Of course I'm listening to you!"

"Really? Because it doesn't seem like you are! All you care about is what I want from Mason, and I don't even want anything from him! I just think that maybe you should have _asked me_ before freaking out! Most of what he said wasn't even true so I have no idea why you got so freaking angry!" Tsuna took a step closer to Daniel and jabbed his chest with her finger. Daniel grabbed her hand in his own, not relinquishing his hold when she tested it.

"Most of it? So he did do things to you?!"

"No! He pretended like he was going to, he didn't _actually_ do anything…" Tsuna's cheeks tinted at the memory of what had happened. She had been, and still was, embarrassed that she had freaked out.

"You're blushing" Daniel stated flatly as he threw her hand aside. Tsuna scoffed at him.

"No, well yea, but not because I like him or anything. It was just kind of embarrassing, crying in front of him and stuff" She practically whispered the end of that, realizing that that would probably end up provoking Daniel even more.

"He made you _cry_? If he didn't do anything then why would you have to cry?" Daniel was starting to get pissed again.

"He didn't do anything! Stop accusing me of lying!"

"Stop protecting him!"

"I'm not protecting him! God dammit Daniel, why the hell are you SO. FREAKING. UPSET?!" Tsuna tried her best to get in his face about it but fell short.

"Because I CARE about you!"

"That doesn't explain anything!"

"You don't need to know why" Daniel tried to turn to leave, they weren't going to get anywhere acting like this and he _definitely_ didn't want to say things he would regret. Tsuna stopped him by grabbing his arm, she tugged on it so that he would face her but he refused to.

"Yes I do, I'm your best friend. I deserve to know why you're getting so upset with me." Tsuna willed him to face her, just even acknowledge her. She felt like she was going to lose something precious to her. If he just walked away, what would happen? They had to fix this so they could be buddies again. Tsuna hated fighting with him.

"I can't tell you Tsu."

"Don't call me that! You don't get to call me that if you won't even be honest with me!"

"Tsuna" Daniel warned. "Stop overreacting."

"_I'm_ not the one overreacting! Are you trying to, like, ruin us or something?" Tsuna's voice was sad, _she_ was sad.

"What? No Tsu" Daniel turned towards her and saw the tears in her eyes, "c'mere" he pulled her into an embrace. "I'm not trying to do anything to us, okay? If anything I'm trying to keep things the way they are."

"No, you're trying to hide things from me. Do you like him or something?"

"What?" Daniel had no idea what she was talking about.

"Mason. Do you like Mason? Because that would make sense, you got mad at him for trying to do something to me when you like him. It's okay, you don't have to hide that from me" Tsuna tried to get answers from her friend.

"God no, Tsuna. That's ridiculous. Of course I don't like him, I like girls. You know that" Daniel chuckled at her incredibly ability to worry about the weirdest of things.

"It's not funny" Tsuna grumbled receiving another chuckle from Daniel. "Then what is it?"

"Tsuna" he tried warning her.

"Please tell me. I'm your _best friend_ and best friends don't keep secrets from each other."

"This one secret, that's all I'm asking for." Daniel attempted to reason with the girl. Tsuna shook her head in a definite 'no'. "How about I tell you another secret if you let me keep this one?" when she went to shake her head Daniel stopped her, "please, trust me on this okay?" Tsuna considered his words.

"Depends on how good the other secret is" Tsuna agreed. Daniel sighed in relief, he really couldn't tell her, not now and maybe not ever.

"Okay" Daniel said and Tsuna looked up to him expectantly.

"Oh but wait- you also have to apologize to Mason, and at least try to be nice to him."

"Fine, but if I do that you have to tell me what _did_ happen tonight, deal?"

"Deal" Tsuna affirmed. "You first" she urged him, excited to know what secret he was going to tell her.

"Okay, okay. So, there's this guy who likes you, like, really likes you all romance-y and stuff" Daniel thought he'd see if she'd be satisfied with that, probably not but you never know.

"…AND?" Tsuna encouraged, accompanied by a hand gesture for him to continue.

"Well, I'm not really supposed to say anything I don't think" Tsuna gave him a warning look, telling him he couldn't back out of a deal, "I know, calm down…" He sighed as he wiped a hand over his face, he really didn't want to hang a bro out to dry but this had to happen. "It's Jean."

"What? No way" Tsuna made a 'pfft' sound and gave a small laugh. "Lying doesn't count."

"I'm being one hundred percent serious" Daniel said, making sure to give her an extra straight face to show he meant business. Tsuna gave him a look of disbelief.

"Really?" Daniel nodded, "what? Why? When did that happen?" Tsuna looked shocked. "I thought we were friends, me and him."

"You guys are friends, he just like you too" Daniel shrugged it aside. "So, what was it that happened between you and Mason?" Daniel changed the subject.

"Oh, uh, nothing much. He told me he, uh… that he would, um… well. He kinda told me thaaaat… he wanted to, um, you know… do stuff" Daniel raised an eyebrow questioningly. "You know" Tsuna urged him to connect the dots. "Like, bedroom stuff. Stuff you do in bed… sexual stuff." She whispered.

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa_. What? He told you he wanted to have _sex_ with you?" Tsuna nodded shyly.

"Well, it was more like he said he _would_, he didn't really, like, ask me to do anything or try to pressure me or stuff…"

"And you seriously got upset at me for getting mad at him? I had _every_ right to be upset. In fact, I'm still upset. That's NOT okay." Daniel wasn't yelling but Tsuna could tell he wished he threw a few more punches.

"But he didn't do anything, besides make things awkward" Tsuna added with a chuckle and Daniel laughed along. They stood there for a few more moments before either spoke again.

"Listen Tsu, I'm sorry okay. I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you" Daniel said as he held out his arms for a hug. Tsuna smiled and stepped into his embrace.

"It's okay, I'm sorry too. Let's not do that again."

"Agreed." They laughed together once more before deciding to go to the Barracks, where their friends were most likely at anyways.

"And don't think I forgot about you having to apologize to Mason" Tsuna reminded Daniel, more to tease him than anything. He nudged her arm, almost accidentally pushing her down in the process.

When the duo arrived in the Barracks, they found that there friends were indeed there, along with Mason who was lying in his bunk. Hiro and Allen smiled when they saw that Daniel and Tsuna had made up, and Hiro was pretty sure that Daniel had been too afraid to confess his feelings to the girl. They greeted each other before Daniel said he'd would be right back. He walked off to his shared bunk with Mason, instead of climbing up to his own like was expected, he stopped right next to Mason, who was completely ignoring him. Daniel scratched the back of his neck, trying to think of a way to say sorry to the aggravating male.

"Look, uh, dude; I'm sorry for punching you and stuff." Daniel was glad that Mason didn't turn to look at him, it would make things more awkward.

"Oh?" Mason said with an obviously uninterested tone. He sat up, resting his elbows on his knees before turning to look at Daniel. "I suppose you're forgiven, but I also suppose that this wasn't your idea" Mason stated.

"Yea… Tsuna told me I should, although when she told me what you did and _said_ to her I was kinda against the idea." Daniel said flatly. Mason chuckled at the other boy's lack of amusement.

"How's your nose?" He asked with a smirk. Daniel didn't bother answering. "I guess it would only be right of me to apologize too, so sorry" Mason was as sincere as he could be, which was only partially.

"Don't use her for your personal entertainment, or next time I won't be sorry" Daniel tried warning the other.

"Personal entertainment huh? I don't recall using her, for anything really… I wonder where you even got such an idea." Mason studied Daniel carefully. He wasn't sure what he was specifically implying, but he was sure that whatever it was, was wrong.

"Really? So this isn't all some game to you? Maybe to mess with Tsuna or get at me for something? Cause that's exactly what it seems like." Mason laughed at his words.

"Is that what you're worried about? Sorry dude, but I'm not interested at steeling something from you that isn't even yours. If I wanted to do that, I really _would_ have kissed her. Don't be fooled, I don't like her, you can have her if you ever get the gull to tell her how you feel." Mason waved Daniel's worries aside.

"You don't like her, but you feel compelled to tell her that you want to do her, and on top of that, you feel bad when you made her cry and offer yourself to her for a few days? Yea, sorry but I'm not buying it." Daniel paused, "And you shouldn't act like your handing her over to me when I obviously have a better chance with her anyways."

"Says the one who won't even confess" Mason scoffed. "Like I said, I don't care either way, you don't have to worry about me interfering with your non-existent relationship." Mason gave Daniel a rather sour laugh.

"Alright, whatever. Don't come crying to me when you realize you have feelings for her, because I will most certainly remind you that you 'don't like her' and all that bullshit. If you didn't like her you would just ignore her like all the other girls around here. At the very least, you like her platonically… and in _that_ case, you just need to man up and ask her to be your friend." Daniel advised the boy, who was obviously having some denial problems. He mumbled a polite goodbye before returning to more likeable company. He was not liking the fact that all these other guys suddenly think they can just start liking, not only his best friend, but the girl that he had liked for several years. It was _not_ cool. He knew it was his own fault for not telling her but he couldn't help it. If he told her it would change things for Tsuna and he couldn't do that. She had told him several times that he was like a brother to her, the closest thing to family she would ever have again. How could he take that form her when he wasn't even sure she would like him back? It could totally ruin things, for both of them. And now, she knew that Jean liked her, like it wasn't obvious enough before. The dude was pretty much whipped, just like Daniel was. Not only that but he wasn't in a position like Daniel where he had much reason to deny it if Tsuna asked. To add to that, Tsuna has become increasingly more aware of the romance aspect of life, meaning that people like Jean had even more of a chance at winning her over. Daniel let out a heavy sigh. _This fucking sucks_, he thought to himself. He arrived at his groups of friends, which had thinned out to Hiro, Allen and Tsuna, for the night. The others probably already went off to bed, which was what he was going to do after he told everyone goodnight.

"How'd it go?" Hiro asked him with a dorky smile that said Tsuna had told them what he had been doing.

"Fine, as good as it could have" his voice gave away his mental exhaustion. Maybe everything was getting stressful and complicated because they would graduate in just a few months. That's probably what was throwing things out of whack.

"Doesn't sound like that's very good. Actually, you sound really tired." Hiro was slightly worried about his friend. He knew that Mason had hit a soft spot earlier, and he also knew that Daniel has been really worried about Tsuna lately. She's been really easy to upset recently, kind of touchy. Maybe she was having that thing that women always complain about. What was it? A period? Yea that sounded right. Maybe her emotional state will be back to normal soon if that were the case.

"Yea, 'm pretty worn out" Daniel yawned as soon as he finished speaking.

"Welp, sounds like you should get to bed buddy" Tsuna patted Daniel's shoulder with a smile.

"Yea, probably. G'night Tsu" Daniel had a dopey grin on his face, fatigue evident on his features. He gave her a goodnight hug, which was mostly just him draping his arms around her shoulder and leaning his weight on the much smaller girl. She made and 'oomph' sound and struggled to keep her balance.

"Goodnight Dan" Tsuna laughed, pushing on his shoulder to get him to stand on his own. He did so with the goofy grin still on his face.

"Alright, alright. I get it. Goodnight Hiro, Allen." Daniel said before walking off towards his bunk.

"I love it when he get like that" Tsuna said once he was out of earshot.

"I know, he gets all cuddly and dorky" Allen added with a snicker.

"You know it just means he's really worn out. I wonder what's stressing him so much lately." Hiro thought out loud.

"Who knows? It's not really like him to worry over things" Tsuna said and Hiro was almost tempted to tell her that it was directly related to her own stressed, and stressful, behavior, but he decided against it. "I'm gonna go to bed too you guys, so goodnight" Tsuna told the two.

"Night Tsuna" Allen told her from his sitting position on the edge of his bunk.

"Goodnight Tsu" Hiro gave her a smile before she crawled into bed and under her blanket. It didn't take long for her to succumb to slumber.

_Tsuna was walking down a familiar road, next to her a young girl with long brown hair walked with her hand in hand. They were going to Tsuna's friend's house, the little girl didn't remember the name of her sister's friend only that he was always nice to the both of them and that Tsuna really like that particular friend. The street they were on would curve a few more times before they arrived at the small house, where there would almost definitely be a boy with light brown hair waiting for the two of them just like there always was. Sometimes Tsuna would meet up with other kids too. _

"_What do you want to do today?" Tsuna asked the little girl who made a 'hmm' sound as she thought about the question._

"_I don't know, does Dan have anything for us to do?" The little girl always thought that Dan's games were fun._

"_Probably, but if ya want ta do something different just let me know" the older girl grinned down at the younger one and point her thumb to her own chest. "Your big sis will take care of things." The little girl smiled and laughed in response. She loved her big sis. "Mom says I have ta have ya back in a little bit thought so we won't have long to play around today."_

"_I know, mom never lets me stay with you guys long" the brunette girl pouted._

"_Don't worry, when yer older, like yer sis, you'll be able to go on cool adventures with me and Dan and maybe even Hiro and them. It'll be so cool." The lttle girl's eyes lit up at her sister's words. _

"_Yea, I wanna be just like you, Tsu" They grinned at each other. _

"_Wanna race there?" Tsuna asked her sister who nodded her head vigorously in response. "Alright, but be careful not to trip or go the wrong way okay? Don't want to lose ya or anyhtin'."_

"_I'll be careful."_

"_Okay, one… two… three… go!" The girls took off running. Tsuna slowed down after a little bit to let her little sister get ahead of her. "Oh no! You're gonna beat me." Tsuna feigned. "Slow down why dontya!" The little girl did slow down, only because she was giggling too hard to run properly. "Oh? Whats this? Is Tsuna gonna catch up? She makes a run for it! Oh, no! 'Tori blocks her and keeps the lead." Tsuna loved making her sister smile. "There the finish line, marked by one Mr. Daniel. Who's gonna take home the trophy today?" Tsuna sped up just enough to make her sister have to speed up as well. Ahead of them, Daniel waited by the road for the two girls to finish their race. _

"_Oh what this? Is little 'Tori finally going to beat Tsuna?" He joined in, cheering the girl along. She ran right up to him and he lifted her into the air._

"_I did it!" She yelled and Daniel cheered along with her._

"_Whew" Tsuna pretended to wipe sweat off her brow. "I'm beat. When'd you get so fast 'Tori?" She received another ecstatic giggle in response. Daniel cradled the small girl on his hip, one arm securing her there just like a mom would hold a baby. The girl eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck in return. "Hey Dan" Tsuna waved to the boy._

"_Hey, Tsu" he grinned at his best friend. When she walked up next to him he grabbed a chunk of her hair, "Your hairs getting long again. Thought you said you don't like super long hair" he teased her._

"_I don't. But my mom says I need to try being a little more 'femi- feman- feminine' or somethin'" Daniel and her sister chuckled at her stutter. "Oh shut it you two" she ground her fist into Daniel's shoulder, he didn't even flinch. _

"_So, what'd you guys wanna do today?" Daniel asked, mostly towards the girl in his arms. Tsuna never really cared what they did, as long as it wasn't sitting around doing nothing. _

"_Whatever you want. You always have fun things to do!" The little girl smiled at the older boy. He sat her down with an 'alright' before stretching his back._

"_How about we go see about finding some flowers in the fields? The ones over by the gate. You can give them to your mom when you go back" Daniel suggested and the girl nodded her head so hard he thought it might fall off. He chuckled when she started bouncing in place. "That sound good Tsu?" Daniel asked the white haired girl._

"_Sounds fine to me" she shrugged. Victoria liked flowers so of course she was going to be okay with it. Her and Daniel could chill why little 'Tori had at those flowers. _

"_Alright, let's go" Daniel said excitedly to Victoria who cheered and grabbed both the older kids by their hands before dragging them towards the gate. She stumbled a few times, but she _had_ only recently turned five. They walked to the flower patches, the gate to Shiganshina only a few dozen meters away. Tsuna and Daniel sat on one of the large rocks in the open area, letting the young girl pick and choose which flowers would be best to put in a bouquet for the girls 'mother'. Their real mom had actually died just a few months after the younger girl had been born, Tsuna could remember her but Victoria had no idea that the lady that she called 'mom' was actually not their mom. Tsuna was pretty sure she had called herself their mom's cousin. Either way, she was pretty much their mom, having taken care of them for the past five years. It just hurt a little whenever Tsuna heard people call her their mom. She used to just call her by her name, Giorgia, but she had started calling her mom after a year or two. It was mostly so 'Tori didn't suspect anything but their 'Aunt', Giorgia had said that that was the closest thing to call her relation to them, had become a parental figure to Tsuna. She loved Giorgia, she just really missed their real mom, and dad for that matter. She was shaken from her thought when Daniel prodded her side with his fingers._

"_You're thinking sad things again aren't you? You always do when we come here. I don't know why you keep agreeing to it, I could think of other things to do" Daniel said knowingly. His friend never admitted to it, but he knew that she was still sad about her mom and dad._

"_I'm fine, and 'Tori likes coming here so it's okay" Tsuna said with a fake smile. "Stop being so serious all the time Dan" Tsuna teased him._

"_Well one of us has to be serious, and I'm the oldest so I think it's alright if I take care of you, y'know?"_

"_Oh please, you turn ten and you think you're an adult all of a sudden" Tsuna rolled her eyes at her friend. Their bickering was halted when Victoria ran over to them with her collection of flowers in hand. _

"_You guys! Look at all the pretty flowers I found! There's some blue ones and some yellow ones, and I found these purple ones, but there were only three of them. I even put some of the grass in there like one of those profesinl ladies make their flowers." Tsuna had to stop from chuckling at her mispronunciation of professional. _

"_Wow, look at that. You did a great job" Daniel ruffled her hair. _

"_Yea, I bet mom will love them" Tsuna smiled and gave her sister a hug._

"_Actually, I picked them for you, sis" 'Tori said as her had jutted out towards Tsuna who gave a huge smile at the offer. "It's 'cause I love you and you're always there for me when I need you!"_

"_Aww, I love you too" Tsuna gave the little girl another hug. It was interrupted when a flash of light stretched across the sky, followed by the ground shaking. Victoria had to grab onto her sister in order to keep from falling off the rock. _

"_Whoa, what was that?" Daniel asked what they were all thinking._

"_Do you think it's one of those things where the ground shakes a few times? What was that again...? An earthquake I think" Tsuna suggested and as if on cue, the ground shook a few more times and they could hear faint explosion like sounds in the distance._

"_I have no idea let's wait and see what they the guards do". Said guards were currently scrambling around, trying to find and put together their gear. After a minute or so, the gate opened and people started coming in from Shiganshina district, they looked kind of frantic. Daniel stood up and jumped off the rock. "Wanna go check it out? Maybe they'll tell us what" Daniel was cut off by more subtle ground shakes and screams coming from over the walls. Explosions could be heard and more people started running through the gate. They waited there a few more minutes to see if they could figure out what was going on. They could hear bells ringing, the warning bells in the church and they could see people from their village starting to come out of their houses. The soldiers were telling people things and guiding people form inside the walls to boats, but the three of them were too far away to hear what they were yelling. _

"_We have to go see what's going on" Tsuna said worriedly, more groups of people were running through the walls now and she was starting to get worried. _

"_Alright, let's go. How about you hop on my back 'Tori?" Daniel said. It would be easier to move around while he carried her than having to worry about losing her or leaving her behind. The girl nodded her head and jumped on his back when he crouched down. They ran towards the gate, trying to hear what people were yelling about. A guard noticed them just standing there._

"_What are you kids doing?! You need to get to the boats before the Titans get here!" He yelled and pushed them into the crowd of people heading for the boats._

"_We have to go find our families!" Tsuna yelled to Daniel, making sure he heard her over the screams and cries around them._

"_Did they say the Titans are here?" 'Tori whispered in a scared little voice. _

"_It's okay, we got you" Daniel assured her. They managed to make it out of the crowd and they started running towards the buildings that made up the village they lived in. They almost made it into the town when the ground started shaking badly again. The guards were yelling something about the gate and Tsuna knew they had to hurry. The shaking increased in speed and strength and the kids stopped to look around just as the gate burst open and rubble went flying everywhere. _

"_Look out!" Daniel yelled as he pushed Tsuna behind the edge of a building before jumping after her. A chunk of the wall smashed the ground they had been standing on only moments before. "Come one! We have to hurry up!" Daniel tugged on Tsuna and grabbed Victoria again. Tsuna tried to follow but when they stepped out from behind the building she saw it. The Titan that broke the gate. It was huge and only a short distance from them. She tried telling her feet to move as she watched steam flow from its mouth. Her body was shaking and her eyes were wide. All she could see was the creature in front of her. She heard Daniel yelling faintly, but she couldn't distinguish his words. He finally just grabbed her and started pulling her towards the inner parts of the village, to their homes. "Tsuna! Listen, you take 'Tori and go find your mom, I'm going to go see if I can find mine. Meet up at the church in five minutes no matter what okay?" Tsuna nodded her head. "Be careful" Daniel told them as he ran off towards his home. Tsuna grabbed her sister and started running towards their home. It was on the other side of the village. She had been running for about a minute before the ground started shaking real bad again. She turned to where the gate used to be and gasp when she saw more Titans coming through the gate. They were headed towards the village. She hurried to start running again, they had almost made it. Tsuna turned to look at how far the Titans had made it. She screamed when she saw one had made it to the street behind the one that Tsuna was running on. There was hardly anyone left in the town, the ones that were left were running in the other direction, towards the boats. The Titan appeared in the corner of Tsuna's vison and blocked the way to her house. She turned to run for the church, hoping that Giorgia had already made it to the boats. There was nothing she could do besides find Daniel and get out of there. She kept running even after her side cramped up and her arm, which was holding her sister, felt like it would fall off. She felt like she would drop to the ground at any second. She turned one last corner before she saw the church and Daniel waiting there. He didn't have his dad with him so Tsuna was worried that the Titans might have already gotten him. Daniel ran to meet them, Tsuna could see tears on his face but he didn't say anything as he took Victoria from Tsuna and started running towards the boats. The ground shook and a chunk of a building started flying towards them again. They had to avoid it and ended up falling in the process. Daniel had thrown Tori out of the way to make sure she didn't get hurt. Tsuna got up and went to see if her sister was alright but as she did a Titan came around the corner of the building, just a few meters from the small girl. _

"_Tori!" Tsuna yelled as she ran towards the girl who had noticed the Titan that was reaching for her._

"_Tsuna!" She yelled as she turned to run away from the hand that was grabbing for her. She only made it a few steps before she was caught in the Titan's grasp._

"_No! Tori!" Tsuna ran up to the hand and grabbed into one of the fingers. She started punching it as it lifted into the air. She fell off the hand and down to the ground. Daniel had recovered at that point and grabbed Tsuna before she could run up to the Titan._

"_Tsuna! Tsuna help!" Victoria was screaming and crying as the Titan inspected her._

"_NO!" Tsuna tried running to the Titan, which had noticed her and Daniel and was reaching for them as well. Daniel grabbed her and pulled her back right as the beast's hand would have grabbed them. They stumbled to the ground just out of the Titans reach. The Titan ignored them in favor of the girl already in his hand. _

"_No!" 'Tori was yelling as the Titan brought its hand, with her encased in it, towards its foul smelling mouth. "Tsuna! Please! Please help!" She was crying hysterically reaching towards her big sister. Their eyes met and Tsuna felt horribly sick as her beloved sister was being shoved into the Titan's mouth. _

"'_Tori!" She was screeching and crying, trying to get to the girl but Daniel held her in place. "Victoria!" She yelled as the girl gave out more cries. The Titan's mouth was closing down on the part of the girl that was in its mouth. The bottom half of Tsuna's sister flopped to the ground as the Titan bit her in half, stopping the agonizing cried of the brown haired girl. Tsuna yelled as the Titan chewed up her sister's half-corpse._

Tsuna woke from her dream with a start, bolting upright. Her skin was moist with sweat. She looked around and took in her surrounding, realizing that it had only been a dream. She put her hand to her face, wiping off the tears she knew would be there they were always there whenever she had that dream, no, that _nightmare_. She supposed it would be more accurate to call it a memory, as it was. She shook her head a few times and quietly stood up. She didn't want to wake anyone, especially Hiro, because he always freaked out whenever she had that particular bad dream, and it had been a good while since she last had it. It was always so lucid and _real_, like it was happening over and over again. Tsuna felt more tears cover her cheeks and she decided to head outside for a bit, to calm down and cool off. She grabbed one of her loose shirts to slip on over her think tank top like thing. As she walked out of the Barracks she was met with a sobering breeze. It didn't stop her crying but it did bring her back to reality. She leaned against the railing that was surrounding part of the porch thing in front of the Barracks. Hopefully none of the officers, or Shadis himself, saw her up after curfew. She stood there crying, thinking about things, for a few minutes before she heard someone walking out of the Barracks. She silently prayed that it wouldn't be one of her friends. She waited tensely to make sure that the footsteps were indeed coming outside before turning around to see who it was. She was startled when she saw Jean walking out of the entryway, he was pulling his shirt down over his head and Tsuna couldn't help but to glance at his well-defined body. She averted her eyes once his shirt was on, a small blush on her face among the tears that she kept trying to wipe off.

"Tsuna?" Jean asked, making sure he got the _right_ white haired girl and wasn't mistaking her, he actually just wanted to make sure he announced his presence to the girl that was, without a doubt, Tsuna. She didn't turn to face him but he knew she knew he was there. He cautiously approached her, stepping up to her side and leaning against the railing, much like she was. Her eyes were trained on the night sky and he could now see why; she was crying. "Are you okay?" She could hear the worry in his voice and it made her cry more. "Is there anything you need?" Jean asked, "You're not cold or anything?" She shook her head 'no'. There was a few minutes of silence between the two and Jean wondered if maybe he should leave the girl alone.

"I heard you like me" she stated and Jean was taken by surprise. Yea he surely like her but he was pretty sure that she was too dense in that area to figure it out. This was completely unexpected and he was totally unprepared for such a question.

"Is that why you're crying?" Jean inquired.

"No, not at all… I take that as a yes." Tsuna stated, not bothering, or needing, confirmation. Jean offered it anyways.

"Yea, I do" Jean's face was flush but he wasn't going to try hiding it. Last time he kept it a secret he lost the girl, he hadn't even stood a chance in the first place. Something about Tsuna was different than Mikasa though, while they were both beautiful, Tsuna was much more lively and inviting. "Does that bother you? 'Cause I'm fine being friends and all."

"No, it doesn't, I don't think so at least" Tsuna seemed to consider something. "Things have been really confusing lately" She finished.

"Like what?" Jean wanted to know what was bothering the girl. He turned to face her, leaning his right arm against the railing.

"I don't know… everything really. My feelings I think… I haven't cried this much I years. What is this? The fourth or fifth time today?" Her question was rhetorical.

"What are you crying about now?" Jean's voice was sincere and Tsuna was tempted to tell him. The only other people who knew were Daniel, Hiro, Amy and Allen and they always bothered over her for days after she told them she had that dream again. She didn't like it and definitely didn't want to go through it so maybe she would tell Jean, see how he reacted.

"A dream" She started with.

"Okay, I take it that it was a bad dream?" Jean guessed.

"Yea… well actually it was a dream of a memory I have, I suppose that's more accurate."

"So, what is this memory?" Jean's voice was careful, he didn't want to upset her more. Tsuna thought about his question and if it was worth confiding in him or if she should just keep it to herself.

"… Six years ago, when the Titans broke the wall, I lived in the village right outside the gate. I had a sister… the Titans got her" Tsuna tried her hardest to keep her voice level and to not break down. Jean didn't know what to say, he felt awful for bringing it up and he wondered if asking was a smart thing to do. "I couldn't do anything about it, I just… watched" she continued and Jean heard a slight quiver in her voice. "Daniel had to drag me away, I probably would have gotten eaten too if he wasn't there." Jean waited a few moments before speaking.

"So, I take it that's why you're here? Not, here as in _right_ here but like, here as a cadet" Jean stumbled with his words.

"Yea, pretty much. That and Daniel wanted to sign up and I didn't want to be alone."

"He lived with you in the village?"

"Yea, we've been together for as long as I can remember. He's pretty much the only one I have left." Tsuna gave a small bitter laugh. Jean wanted to hug her, he could tell that she was so very hurt. He couldn't stand it.

"You're parents?" he pressed even though he knew he shouldn't.

"Dead, my dad was in the Survey Corps and my mom went with him occasionally. They both died on an expedition when I was four."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked" Jean hoped he hadn't made things worse.

"It's okay, I've kinda gotten used to that feeling. My Aunt, who took me and my sister in after my mom died, was killed by the Titans back then. But those things I'm used to. It's just that memory, watching my sister get eaten, it's hard" Tsuna tried to explain her thoughts and feelings. "Have you ever lost someone close to you, cause of _them_?" Tsuna finally met Jean's gaze and his heart fell and jumped at the same time. The memory of his best friend, Marco filled his head as he looked at the beautiful girl in front of him. The moonlight glistened in her eyes and illuminated her face so perfectly that he felt a twinge of pain.

"Yea… When the gate at Trost was broke, right after our class had graduated, my friend, Marco, was killed. I found his body during the cleanup after the gate was sealed." Tsuna could see the pain in Jean's eyes and, while she felt sorry for him, she was somewhat glad that he knew how she felt. It was a selfish thing for her to feel and she knew it, she just couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry" she mumbled. He just shrugged it off.

"It's what happens, it wasn't completely unexpected. He was a soldier after all, just like me... and you" he finished solemnly.

"It shouldn't be that way. People shouldn't die like that just for people to shrug it off as normal. It isn't normal, soldier or not." Tsuna felt herself crying again. "They shouldn't exist" she mumbled as she finally broke down. She started weeping, her shoulders jerking with each sob that fell from her mouth. Jean was started by the suddenness of the girl's breakdown. He started rubbing her back, trying to sooth her like he had done the last time he found her crying. After a few moments of debating, he pulled her into a hug and mumbled what he hoped were comforting words to her. She let him hold her there, leaning her weight against him and just letting herself go. He rubbed her hair a little bit and gave her a gentle squeeze. They stood there like that for a while before Tsuna started to calm down. Her sobs became quiet sniffles. She looked up to Jean and he looked down at her, their eyes met and he felt butterflies in his stomach. He had the girl he was pretty sure he loved in his arms and they were all alone in the moonlight. Nothing but the stars watching them. His eyes found her lips, red and swollen form being held by her teeth. His hands found their way to his face, thumbs wiping off the tears as best they could. He found himself leaning down, their gazes locked. Tsuna wore a look of confusion and surprise, her cheeks were tinted red from more than crying. Jean kept leaning forward until he felt her soft lips against his own.


End file.
